


Kintsugi

by EmmaOverland



Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: AU, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Family Feels, Handyman hiccup, How Do I Tag, Loss of Parent(s), Modern Setting, Multi, Rebuilding, Slow Build, hiccup is a magical unicorn, jack needs help, lots of crossover characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-02-29 00:03:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18767068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmaOverland/pseuds/EmmaOverland
Summary: Jack moves across the country to the small town of Berk, WA to raise his sister after their parents are killed in a car accident. Along the way he'll make new friends, experience new things, and learn to take care of a family. Maybe he'll even fall in love.(I'm crap at summaries)





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This is something that's been floating around on my drive for a while. I've got a few chapters already written so I thought I'd post it here and see what sort of reception it gets. Each chapter is roughly 5 pages on Word so...pretty short...

The party was in full swing and laughter was heard in nearly every part of the house. Jack made his rounds appropriately as the host but luckily he had others to help him keep the patrons happy. A knock on the door had him excusing himself from his current conversation and he made his way over, opening it with his usually brilliant smile. The expression faded at the sight before him. The sheriff? Jack set down his drink on the stand beside the door and stepped out of the house he was renting to see what the man needed.

“Something wrong Anders?” Jack prompted. “We aren’t that loud, can’t even hear the music. I doubt the old woman across the street called.”

Sheriff Anders didn’t even crack a smile as he stood on the porch with his hat in his hand. “I’m afraid I’m here for somethin’ a little more serious Jack.”

A feeling akin to cold dread settled in his stomach. This wasn’t usual at all. The older man had always had time to joke around with Jack and they’d gotten to know each other pretty well all things considered. The older man stared at the wood of the porch for a moment before looking up at Jack and letting out a sigh as he worried his hat.

“Sorry to disturb you at your party Jack, I just felt it was better to hear it from me first.” Anders began, brown eyes darting toward the lit window and then back to the young man in front of him. “I wish you didn’t have to hear it at all. I’m sorry to tell you son, there’s been an accident. Rock slide knocked the car off the pass, your parents…they didn’t survive.”

The world narrowed down to the man in front of him as a feeling impossible to describe hit Jack like a speeding train. “W-what?”

Anders let out a soft noise of sympathy. “Your sister is in critical condition, you’re the next of kin as you know. There’s an Aster Bunnymund there with her at the hospital right now. But seeing how…”

The rest of the words were drowned out by the pounding of his heart in his head. Absently he was aware of Anders reaching out to steady him, he must had looked like he was going to fall over or perhaps he swayed. Jack couldn’t be sure but the words chased themselves around in his head over and over again. His parents were dead and his sister was in critical condition because of a sudden rock slide… It was like some horrific nightmare come to life.

He was vaguely aware of the door opening behind him and muffled conversations before a small hand was on his shoulder. He turned to look at Anna as she tried to get his attention and from the look on her face, she knew or at least had an idea that something had happened. Jack found himself leaning heavily on the redhead. She was saying something to Anders, her chest vibrating against him with her speech, and then he was numbly being led back into the house and into his room. His mind didn’t focus on any one thing except that now, now his sister was alone. Emma was alone!

“I have to go to Emma!” he declared sitting up from where he’d been coaxed to lay down on his bed.

“Jack calm down.” Elsa soothed as she reached out to press him back into the bed. “Don’t worry, Anna is sending the people home. We’ll help you get everything together. Just stay still, you’re probably in shock.”

Jack felt himself being pushed back and allowed the movement before closing his eyes tightly. This couldn’t be happening. There was so much to do but he had to get to Emma. Absently he noted a conversation between Anna and Elsa though he wasn’t really paying much attention to what the sisters were saying. He was still trying to process what had happened.

The next day passed in a hazy blur of phone calls and reservations back and forth on top of calls to the hospital and to his parents’ lawyer. The flights and transfers and finally the taxi ride, looking back on it Jack didn’t know how he got to the hospital with how absent he’d been mentally. The receptionist directed him to his sister’s room and he was greeted by Aster when he finally found it. Emma was still in PICU but they claimed she looked better.

“What happened?” Jack asked quietly.

Aster shook his head before pushing blue-grey hair from his face. “Don’t know mate. Not tellin’ me anything, not being kin and all.”

Jack nodded and glanced around before a nurse seemed to sense his confusion and approached. They spoke briefly and the woman motioned to the door beside her.

“Of course, your sister may look a bit startling but she’s made good progress. I’ll get the doctor for you.” she said with a kind smile before greeting Aster and heading further down the hallway.

Jack took a deep breath before stepping into the room, Aster right behind him for support. He hadn’t been prepared for the sight that greeted him. Emma was small and pale hooked up to different machines. He’d never seen her look so fragile before, even the cheerfully colored blankets did nothing to ease the severity. He was just thankful she didn’t have a ventilator. A strong hand to his back reminded him that he wasn’t alone and he crossed the small expanse to stand at her side.

The blue eyed man reached out and grabbed the pale hand that seemed too small, too fragile to be his sister. She had cuts and bruises visible on her but he wasn’t foolish enough to believe that it was the extent of her injuries. If that were the case she wouldn’t be in the PICU.

Footsteps alerted them to the presence of another person in the room and Jack glanced over his shoulder to see a young man, close to his own age, wearing a lab coat. He watched the new guy greet Aster before coming up to him.

“Mr. Frost? I’m Tadashi Hamada, Emma’s doctor while she’s staying with us.” He offered his hand and Jack shook it habitually. “Did you have any questions? I’d also like to verify some things in her files when you have a moment.”

Jack tightened his grip on the small cool hand. “What happened to her?”

Tadashi glanced at the seven-year-old for a moment before looking back at her brother. “When Emma came to us she was, bleeding profusely. We managed to stem the bleeding, fortunately she wasn’t the cause of most of it. She has four broken ribs and a head wound above her ear. Nothing came up on the scans we did. There was some internal bleeding but we managed to stop that as well. We’ll know more when she wakes up.” The Asian man kept his tone as comforting as possible, gauging the other man’s reaction with a trained eye. “The police may be able to answer questions about the accident specifically.”

Jack nodded and let his thumb rub over Emma’s knuckles before letting her go and stepping away. “You said you needed me to look over some stuff?”

Tadashi put his hands into his pockets. “It’s not important. I realize this is a stressful time for you, you can wait until tomorrow if you’d like.”

“No,” Jack said after a moment. “I need the distraction.”

“Very well, I’ll be right back with what we need verified.” Tadashi said with a short nod and partial bow before leaving the room.

Aster moved to stand next to him. “Ya all right mate?”

Jack sighed and rubbed his face with his hand. “Honestly? No I’m not all right. My parents are dead and my sister is on that bed where I can’t get to her. So, no I’m not.”

The large Australian didn’t say anything. He couldn’t be mad at Jack for his snappy or rude words. The younger man was going through a really hard time, one Aster wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy. He simply set a large hand on Jack’s shoulder and gave it a supportive squeeze. Eventually the two were seated beside the bed, one on either side of the resting girl, speaking quietly while Jack filled out forms and supplied information that Aster hadn’t been able to provide.

The white haired man pulled the glasses from the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes. He should have worn his contacts, but absently he was glad he didn’t wear them. His eyes were burning enough from the semi-squinting before he’d given in and pulled out the glasses, choosing to ignore Aster’s snickers of amusement. He didn’t wear them often or willingly, instead picking his clear contacts when he was outside of the house.

A nurse came in and went about her rounds with Emma and the other children in the room before nodding to the two men and leaving again. The silence that followed stretched on for a while before Aster excused himself after making sure Jack was okay by himself. Jack watched his sister for a long moment before reaching out and petting her hair softly.

“Don’t worry Em, I’ll take care of you.” he whispered only to be answered by the steady beeping of the machines around him.

 

xXx

 

“Will you be back?”

Jack sighed as he tucked the phone into the crook of his neck. “No, I don’t think I will. Can you take care of my stuff until I can get a truck and bring it over?”

“Yeah, don’t worry.” Anna promised, her voice understandably sad. “Elsa said she’ll see if one of her friends can bring you the sparse things you’ve got here. So, why do you think you’ll stay?”

“Emma.” Jack answered without any hesitation or pause to think it over. “With mum and Adam gone, I don’t want to completely change things on her. I think it’ll only upset her more if she has to suddenly change cities and schools…and states…” He let out a soft sigh. “I don’t want to do that to her. I want her to keep some stability while we’re going through this.”

Anna hummed in understanding. “That makes a lot of sense. So are you gonna go to school there or take a break from it?”

Jack groaned as he sank into one of the chairs in the cafeteria. “I don’t even want to think about school right now. I’m still talking to the lawyers and planning the funeral…Education will have to wait until I can get everything else fixed.”

“Don’t worry Jack. Once we get break, we’ll fly over to help you as much as we can.” Anna assured with a small laugh at his dislike, even if only for the moment. “Even if we don’t get break, I can miss a week of school.”

“Don’t do that.” Jack said with a shake of his head even though the girl on the phone wouldn’t see it. “You know Elsa would come down on you like a mother hen in a heartbeat.”

Anna laughed and said something to someone else, away from the receiver so it came across muffled to Jack. Several moments later she came back to the conversation and they wrapped it up so Jack could return to his sister’s side. He didn’t want to be too far from her in case she woke up. He didn’t want her to be afraid at all. He returned to the room she was in and settled in beside her, grateful that she’d at least been moved from PICU and placed into a regular room. Now he just needed her to wake up. Luckily for him, some prayer somewhere was heard as not even an hour into filling out more papers a soft noise came from his sister.

Jack lifted his head and stared at the small girl for a long moment as though he wasn’t sure that he’d heard anything at all. And then it came again, the soft sound between a groan and a sigh. After a long moment of tense silence, honey eyes opened to stare hazily at the lights before Emma turned her head slightly to look around, understandably confused.

“Jack?” she questioned softly. “You’re here.”

Jack laughed a bit as he reached out and pressed the button to call the nurse before standing and petting the girl’s hair. “Yeah kiddo, I’m here. I’m here for good.”

 

xXx

 

The door creaked as it always did, as it had every time he’d stepped into the home since he’d arrived a few weeks ago. Emma was sleeping against him, tucked in her brother’s arms with her head on his shoulder as she snored softly. The medication they gave her made her sleepy and she’d drifted off in the car on the way home. Jack had made sure that he explained what happened carefully, even if he felt the girl was probably too young to understand. But Emma had understood and she cried, oh how she’d cried.

But now they were home and he was going to do the best he could to take care of her. Thankfully Aster had already come around and aired out the house and washed the bedding so when he tucked Emma in for a nap she wasn’t being put down in musty stiff bedding. He pulled the butter yellow sheets up and then the fluffy white comforter before pressing a kiss to his sister’s forehead, smiling softly when she let out a content sound and snuggled deeper into the blankets.

A knock on the front door had him frowning and stepping out of the room. Who would be knocking? Who did he know that knocked? Jack jogged down the stairs and opened the door after peeking through the glass center piece. There was no peep hole, just a decorative pane.

“Can I help you?” he asked the redhead on the porch.

She grinned at him. “Sorry tae bug ya. M’name’s Merida DunBroch. I’m Emma’s teacher at her school. Heard she wus released frum tha hospital and I wanted tae bring this by.” She waved a small folder in her hand. “It’s notes on wut Emma’s missed an’ wurksheets so she can catch up tae tha kids and not hafta feel overwhelmed.”

Jack blinked several times before taking the folder. “Uh thanks. Sorry, I’m Jack Frost, Emma’s brother and legal guardian now.”

Merida nodded softly, her expression becoming solemn. “Sorry about yer loss. Julie wus a good woman. It’ll be hard on tha community tae go without her an’ Adam both.” She made a noise and dug around in the bag slung casually over her shoulder. This woman was a teacher? She suddenly thrust a small card under his nose. “In case ya needin’ any help. Yer new ‘round town. Heere’s muh number so if yer needin’ anything ar want tae know best take out call. You’ll get either muhself ar’ muh cousin. He’ll steer ya right.”

Jack took the card with a small smile. “Thanks. I’ll uh, be sure to do that. If I need anything.”

He watched the redhead nod and then offer him a small wave before stepping off the porch and grabbing the bicycle she’d propped against the railing around the porch. Berk was a small town, he’d probably see her around…a lot. But it was a good start, he’d never had a chance to visit the town when his family had moved from Burgess. Jack shut the front door with a sigh and leaned against the wood before letting his gaze dart down to the card in hand with a smile. Well, at least he had someone to call if there was something that came up.

Maybe things…would be okay…


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are, the second installment. Nothing fancy just some update stuff really...giving us a few more characters.

Jack sighed and leaned heavily against the door of his sister’s room. He’d just put her down for bed and now was exhausted, emotionally more so than physically. Emma was distant and skittish all day, often bursting into tears and curling up under the dining room table where she felt safest until Jack decided to just sit under there with her until the tears stopped. He was patient with her, calmly explaining and reminding her that their parents still loved her and were only gone if she forgot about them. It was hard to explain death to a sever-year-old.

He pushed himself off the door and padded down the hall to what was the guest room. He didn’t feel comfortable sleeping in his mother’s room. Not yet anyway. He might not ever feel completely okay with it but…Jack pushed the thought away for now and settled down. He didn’t bother to change into sleep clothes, just face planted into the bed with a heavy sigh. Within minutes he was asleep, the events of the day finally pushing him into a sweet if temporary oblivion.

In her room Emma turned slightly, her face scrunched up in despair. The was shaking and there was a loud rumbling sound, then tires screeching and glass shattered. Her mother was screaming her name, the woman’s hand reaching back into the backseat where she sat. The world tilted and rolled sickeningly; she was screaming. Jack flew into the room and immediately reached out for the thrashing girl, pulling her to him and holding her tight against her struggles as he tried to wake her. Brown eyes opened suddenly and Emma scrambled to grip her brother, gasping for air.

“Emma look at me!” Jack ordered softly but firmly.

Her eyes darted everywhere else in panic before locking onto familiar blue and felt herself calming slightly. Jack was speaking softly, petting her hair and instructing her to breathe with him. Tears spilled over pink cheeks as Emma continued to draw in ragged breaths before the girl tried to burrow into pale arms. Jack’s familiar scent of sweet mint filled her senses and soothed her into soft breaths only broken by hiccups as she whined softly.

Jack rocked his sister in his arms, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “It’s okay Emma. I’m here. I won’t leave you, I promise.” There was no way he could keep such a promise but it put his sister at ease and only the gates of hell would keep him protecting her. “I promise.”

He settled back against her headboard and continued to rub her back well after she fell asleep, afraid that if he put her down she’d be attacked by the nightmare again. Instead he stayed awake and watched the play of shadows on the wall as the sun began to rise. Only in the safety of the day did he finally relinquish his hold on his sister. He eased her back down and tucked a plethora of stuffed animals in around her to guard over her while she slept. Jack sighed and retreated to his own room but only dozed lightly, unable or unwilling to fully succumb to slumber.

 

xXx

 

Jack had been dozing off at the kitchen counter when the sudden knock on the door startled him into jerking his head up. Glacial eyes blinked owlishly before his sleep deprived brain registered that someone was indeed knocking on the front door. He pushed himself away from the magazine he was supposed to be reading and stumbled over to the door, squinting at the bright afternoon light as he opened it.

“Hello!” a chipper voice greeted.

“Emma!” another much younger voice called.

Who the hell? Jack stared at the woman who looked closer to his own age before looking down at the dirty-blonde haired girl trying to push past him and calling his sister’s name.

“Elfi!” the woman scolded before offering a bright smile to Jack. Was she wearing a flower crown made out of daises? “Hi! I’m your neighbor Rapunzel.” Seriously? “I brought pie, and I wanted to come see how you were handling everything. Oh and of course to check on Emma. She’s such a dear thing.” Did this woman ever stop talking to breathe?

Jack blinked again before looking down at the child in front of him who was staring up at him expectantly. Clearly she wasn’t pleased being kept from her friend. “Um…”

Rapunzel smiled again. “This is Elfi, my daughter. She goes to school with Emma and has begging me to let her come over and visit. I hope it’s not too much trouble.”

“Uh, no. Emma’s resting in her room.” Jack said finally letting the girl shove past him.

Rapunzel sighed. “Elfi! You have to listen to Mr. Overland, be nice! And be gentle!”

The two watched the girl come a stop and she turned back to stare at Jack for a moment. “Sorry Mr. Overland, I’m gonna see Emma now.” And then the girl was gone up the stairs calling loudly for Emma who was barely heard.

“It’s Frost…actually.” Jack mumbled.

Rapunzel blinked in confusion. “I’m sorry?”

Jack stepped aside and motioned with his hand for her to come in. “My last name, it’s Frost. Sorry. I’m Jack Frost.”

“Oh!” the blonde woman worried her bottom lip for a moment and then offered a small smile. “Sorry, Julie never brought up last names. I’m sorry I just assumed you had the same last name…”

Jack took the pie from her and waved a hand dismissively. “We did for a long time. Frost was our father’s name. He wasn’t around much after Emma was born so she never knew him. When mum remarried, Adam offered to adopt us. He was the only father Emma knew and she consented to changing her last name. I was sort of going through that rebellious stage, didn’t want to give up on my old man. Looking back, I was complete…” He made a vague noise as Rapunzel followed him into the kitchen. “Anyway yeah…Jack Frost.”

The woman smiled and nodded slightly before a loud crash from upstairs had her sighing. “Elfriede!”

“Sorry mommy!” Elfi’s voice called back, followed immediately with... “We’re okay!”

“Well, at least they’re okay.” Rapunzel muttered as she brushed a stray strand that escaped her braid from her face. “But honestly, Jack, are you all right? Julie said you were living in New York? I mean, I know you don’t know me…Julie and I were really good friends. She was really helpful with a lot of stuff. But I just wanted to make sure that things were okay over here. I meant to introduce myself when you first got here but you looked dead on your feet…still do actually.” Jack chuckled as Rapunzel gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. “I’m sorry. I meant, you look tired and…oh lilies! I’ll just stop.”

Jack’s chuckling became full loud laughter that shook his shoulders and made his stomach hurt. “It’s fine. I know I probably look like a zombie.”

The green eyed woman offered a small smile and nod. “Are you all right though Jack? I mean, is there anything I can help with?”

“Hard to say honestly.” Jack busied himself with making tea, glancing questioningly toward Rapunzel. She smiled and nodded at the unasked question and Jack nodded going back to his process. “It’s sort of like being a dream, a really bad one. Emma wakes up at night screaming and I don’t know how to help her…I know it’ll take more than three days but.” He stepped back as the water warmed. “We’re taking things one step at a time. I’m working on the funeral right now and still going over stuff with the lawyers and dealing with an insane aunt in Europe, that we’ve met once, who wants custody of Emma.”

“Well, if you ever need time…during the day even just to take a nap for a little bit I’ll come get Emma. She can play with Elfi for a while and help me around the studio.” Rapunzel offered, putting her hand on his arm when Jack placed a cup of tea in front of her.

Jack smiled. He hardly knew the woman but already she was making these a little better. “I’ll think about it.”

 

xXx

 

“Jack, the ceiling is crying.”

“What?” Jack turned to look at Emma from where he stood at the table looking over the mail.

Of all the things for his sister to say, that wasn’t it. But Emma wasn’t looking at him, instead her eyes were trained up on the ceiling. Jack stepped into the kitchen and stared – the ceiling was leaking. The two siblings stared dumbfounded at the building water that continued to drip. What the hell was that? He headed upstairs to try and figure out if it was coming from the bathroom but there was nothing on or leaking up there. He came back down and immediately began to hunt for a phone book only to scowl. He blinked and whipped around to stare at the card on the fridge. Merida!

He herded his sister out of the kitchen and turned the light off after he dialed the number and tucked the phone between his ear and shoulder.

“Hallo?”

“Merida?”

“Aye, oh Jackie boy! This you?”

Jack made a sound of agreement. “I need to know a…something…the number for somewhere.”

Merida laughed a bit, Emma grinning when she heard her teacher’s voice. “Wut’s tha matter?”

“Our ceiling is crying – leaking!” Jack groaned and resisted the urge to beat his head against the wall. “Emma stay out of the kitchen! Sorry, our ceiling is leaking and I need someone who can take a look at it. Do you know anyone? I tried to find a phonebook…”

“Yer not goin tae find onna them.” Merida said with a snort. “Hang on,” Jack could hear her talking to someone else and then a few seconds later she came back to the conversation. “Don’t worry, he’ll be over in a tick.”

Jack blinked for a moment. “Who?”

Merida made a noise that sounded like a laugh and snort. “Tae come look at yer cryin’ ceiling.”

“Oh…wait who is coming?” Jack tried again.

“Oh! Sorry. Muh cousin. Should be theere shartly. I’ll talk tae later Jack. Gotta grade these papers.”

Jack blinked at his phone when he heard the click. She hung up on him. He looked down at Emma and the girl merely shrugged before yawning and shuffling into the living room. Slowly Jack turned and looked back at the ceiling with a frown. It was only five minutes later when a knock was heard. Jack shuffled over and opened the door only to come to a complete stop. This was the not the man he’d been expecting.

“Uh…”

Green eyes looked him over and the tall man’s lips quirked into a lopsided smile. “Hi, I’m Hiccup; Merida’s cousin. She said you had a problem?”

“Our kitchen is crying Hiccy.” Emma supplied as she stood on the couch and looked over at him. “Ja-ack! Show him the crying ceiling.”

Jack stumbled back as Hiccup came into the home, his brain still shut down momentarily. The hell was he looking at? He shook himself much like a dog and shut the door behind the semi-guest. “Right, it’s um, over here.”

Jack resisted the urge to fidget with his hoodie sleeves or anything else as he felt the man’s gaze on his back. They stepped into the kitchen and Jack flipped on the light before motioning to the spot which had started to drip faster.

“As you can see it’s cryi-leaking. My ceiling is leaking. Nothing upstairs is turned on and nothing flooded…that I know of.” Jack silently cursed himself.

Hiccup let out a low whistle as he stared at the ceiling before excusing himself and heading up the stairs. Jack could hear him moving around in the bathroom which was located above the kitchen before the messy haired man came back down and hummed.

“Well, I’ll have to cut into it to see what’s going on. Unless there’s a crawl space but doesn’t look like it from here.” Hiccup muttered. “But it might be an easy fix and I can get it done quickly and patch up the ceiling and should be good as new. If it’s a simple fix.”

Jack blinked when he realized the man had turned to look at him expectantly, feeling his cheeks heat up. He’d completely zoned out while staring at the man’s hands. He coughed a bit and rubbed his forehead. “Ah, what? Sorry…”

Hiccup grinned again and turned to face Jack fully. “Do you care if I get in there.”

“Where?” Jack suddenly shook his head as Hiccup laughed a bit. “Yeah sorry. It’s um…yeah just do whatever you have to do.” He made a motion with his hand feeling unusually flustered. “I’m open to whatever…I mean. Shit.”

“Shouldn’t say shit.” Emma quipped helpfully from the living room.

Jack groaned and then sighed again wishing the ground would swallow him whole. “I’m sorry, uh Hiccup. Yeah, just do whatever you think is best.”

Hiccup’s grin never left his face and he inclined his head slightly. “Right then, I’ll do what I think is best.”


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here there be HOBBITS! Or at least one Hobbit…Hobbitses…Wanna just cuddle him forever and ever and ever and ever and ever…ahem you get it.

Jack felt oddly bereft as he made his way down the sidewalk toward the local grocery store. Emma had decided that after a week she wanted to go back to school and so he had time to himself. He figured it would be easier but to be frank, he felt like something was missing without her there. Then again if he were honest with himself and anyone who asked, he was glad that she only waited another two days after the funeral to actually decide that she was too restless and wanted to go back to school. Still however, that gave him time to do things he needed to do.

Blue eyes glanced over the list in hand and he hummed thoughtfully. He had a lot of groceries to get if the house was going ever start feeling like a home again. So far they’d been eating a lot of pizza and take out. All the greasy food was leaving Jack feeling gross and sluggish. Time to put a stop to that! He grabbed a cart and began to make his way through the store, a local mom and pop place that had surprisingly stood its ground against the bigger stores. Jack had been surprised to find out that the mayor of Berk had decided that the bigger chain stores weren’t needed in the town, they were more than willing to support the locals who’d been there for years. And the community had rallied behind the decision.

He moved quickly, picking up the layout of the store easily enough as he went over his list. He had to admit, being greeted by so many people that he didn’t know was really weird. How many people did his mother and Adam know in this place? Then again, most of the town had shown up at the funeral and offered their condolences to the two children. He was looking over the different vegetables when he stepped back and rammed into someone by accident. Hastily he swung around and looked down at the small man he’d backed into.

“I’m so sorry!” Jack apologized as he reached out and pulled the short man back to his feet. “I was so…the…I’m sorry.”

The man laughed a bit as he was straightened up and shook his head, messy brown hair moving slightly. Jack watched him curiously as the man smoothed down the yellow waistcoat he wore…who dressed like that anymore? Before he was presented with a bright smile that he couldn’t help but return.

“No harm done.” the man murmured with another affectionate shake of his head. “Didn’t have anything in my basket so no loss either.” He peered up at Jack and Jack couldn’t help but smile wider. “Bilbo Baggins, at your service.”

Jack blinked a moment. “Ah, Jack Frost…at yours?”

Bilbo made a humming noise and nodded his head. “You’re Julie’s boy then.”

Jack nodded and couldn’t help but fidget slightly. He didn’t really like the association immediately being connected with his deceased mother and couldn’t help but feel slightly unnerved by it. Was this man going to pity him like the others did? But Bilbo didn’t bring up the funeral other than a quick apology from the loss and Jack couldn’t help but think that maybe this little man understood the uncomfortable nature of it all.

“You’re new in town?” Bilbo prompted after a moment. “I imagine you’ve seen a lot of faces that know you but you’re not sure who they are.”

Jack laughed a bit and nodded as he moved to the side when Bilbo approached the different carrots where Jack had been standing. They resumed their shopping though the conversation didn’t stop. “I’ve met my neighbor Rapunzel and her daughter and my sister’s teacher Merida…and now I’ve met Hiccup and you’d be the next person who actually said your name first before telling me something about my mother.”

Bilbo huffed slightly and examined one of the carrots in hand. “Nosy buggers the lot of them. Rapunzel is a nice girl, does really nice paintings. Merida can hold a good conversation and takes my nephews out to keep them busy. But Hiccup is a good lad. He’s useful to have around, very handy. Can’t cook to save his life though so if he ever offers you’re safer to just eat dirt.”

“He can’t cook?” Jack repeated, forcibly turning his mind away from the handy comment.

Bilbo had a grin on his face that Jack couldn’t place and didn’t think he wanted to. “No, takes after his own mother that way. For all the things he does know how to do, I don’t know how those two cousins even survive. Neither can cook a proper meal. Hand me that one please.”

Jack automatically reached out and grabbed the requested produce and passed it over to Bilbo. He watched the man for a moment absently wondering if he went shopping alone when he seemed to have trouble reaching things. Still his mind turned back to the fact that Hiccup and Merida couldn’t cook. He glanced toward the list in hand and immediately his mind began to churn with a plan. Well then, he’d just have to treat them to a good meal, an additional repayment for working on that blasted pipe in the ceiling which was still being repaired.

“I’m not trying to offend or anything,” Jack began hesitantly causing Bilbo to look at him curiously. “Did you need any other help?”

“No offense taken, I know I’m short.” Bilbo responded with a sunny smile but he shook his head anyway. “Thank you for the offer. My shadow should be around here somewhere; he was parking the car.” Bilbo glanced curiously toward the door of the store before turning back to the carrots and other vegetables muttering to himself for a moment before looking back at Jack. “Have a good day Jack.”

“You too Bilbo.” Jack answered with a small smile of his own before pushing off to get the rest of the things he’d need and get back home before Emma did.

Luckily he was done within a half-hour and back home unloading the groceries when he heard a knock on the screen door. Jack stood up and frowned slightly. He’d left the front door open because the day was nice and good breeze came in but had kept the screen door shut. Had someone really knocked on the screen? But there it was again.

“It’s open!” he called as he continued to load the fridge with the perishables.

“You should be careful who you say that to.”

Jack made a startled sound before swearing as he jerked so quickly he hit his head on the handle of the freezer. Warm hands were on his back immediately, easing him into a standing position. Hiccup stood close to him, probably closer than was strictly necessary and Jack fought the urge to sigh or anything similar. He winced slightly at the tender touch to his head, rough fingers pushing his hands away.

“Let me see.” Hiccup murmured. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

Jack shook his head then stood still while Hiccup prodded the tender spot with a surprising gentleness. “No it’s okay. I really shouldn’t have stood up that fast. I swear I’m not normally this clumsy.”

Hiccup chuckled, a low sound in his chest that Jack could feel through his fingertips. Of course once he realized where his hand was resting, on Hiccup’s chest in a very familiar manner, he withdrew from the taller man.

“It’s fine. Just a small bump, nothing serious.” he muttered.

Hiccup watched him for a long moment, bright green eyes holding his gaze for a moment before he nodded and stepped back out of Jack’s space. He glanced toward the ceiling and then nodded toward the open spot in the ceiling. “I got the part so I can fix that now.”

“Oh, that’s good then.” Jack muttered before inwardly cursing himself. He was sounding worse than a teenager. “Don’t mind me, just gonna be putting away groceries. And I’m done in the fridge for right now so you can set the ladder up in front of it again.”

“All right.” Hiccup nodded slightly before turning and leaving the room, heading back to his truck to get the ladder and the part he’d needed.

Jack busied himself with putting things away in their proper places, checking expiration dates of what was there and rearranging things. They had to be in a specific order or Jack would probably die. Okay that was a bit far but still. Jack couldn’t handle when the kitchen wasn’t in proper order. He kept his back to Hiccup as the other man set up the ladder. They worked in silence for a few minutes until Jack turned to ask Hiccup something that was on his mind only to have his brain shut down.

There was nothing particularly surprising about what he was seeing but, it still stopped him in his tracks. Hiccup was up on the ladder reaching above his head to mess with the pipe but that’s not what had Jack’s attention, no it was the thin strip of skin that was exposed when his shirt rode up as he worked above his head. Jack’s mouth ran dry for a moment as he was fixed on that tanned skin. That was an even tan, it matched the tan on Hiccup’s arms. Jack tightened his grip on the bowl in hand and shook himself, turning away before Hiccup noticed.

Of course, Jack didn’t see the little grin on Hiccup’s face. It was only proper for him to give Jack something entertaining after the little show he’d been able to watch while Jack had been bent over in the fridge. It hadn’t really been his intention to ogle the denim clad arse sticking out of the fridge but he’d been taken aback and hadn’t been able to stop himself from doing it anyway. And what harm was there in looking? Hiccup knew what harm there was in looking because the moment Jack had opened his door just a few days prior Hiccup had felt the urge to pin the smaller male to the nearest surface and snog him senseless. How long had it been since someone had caught his attention like that? So wholly and completely unintentionally.

“Tea?” Jack asked suddenly.

Hiccup glanced back at him and then nodded. “Sure that sounds good.”

Jack hummed an affirmative and busied himself with prepping the tea. He wasn’t sure what blend it was this time that Elsa had left him the day before. He smiled at her thoughtfulness. True to their word, the sisters and few other friends have flown over to attend the funeral, offering silent strength and even Aster had taken a day off work to come up. He sniffed the can of tea and made a small pleased sound. Behind him Hiccup muttered a curse as something banged against the pipe.

“You all right?” Jack prompted.

Hiccup nodded a bit. “Wrench slipped.”

Jack nodded even though Hiccup was focused on his work and turned back to prepping the tea. It sounded believable enough and he had no reason to suspect that the real reason the wrench had slipped was because of the noise he’d made. Soon the tea was steeping in the mugs and Jack frowned.

“Honey?”

“Yes?” Hiccup responded automatically, his tone questioning as if Jack had been calling him that…as if such a thing were a common occurrence.

Jack’s eyes widened slightly. “Uh, do you want honey…in your tea I mean.”

Hiccup looked at him for a moment then nodded. “If you think it’ll taste better.”

“Yes, I think it would.” Jack said, forcing his mind elsewhere.

Hiccup made a sound of agreement and was back at work. Jack watched him for a few moments longer before turning away and finishing the tea before setting one of the mugs to the side and taking a sip of his own. This was really good tea. After a moment he was acutely aware of Hiccup standing close to him again, taking a drink of his own tea.

“I never liked drinking hot tea before when it wasn’t winter.” Hiccup began conversationally. “But I think it’s growing on me. And the tea is much better with honey.”

Jack nodded slightly. “I’m fond of honey as a sweetener.”

“I’m starting to like it.” Hiccup answered as he took another drink and hummed in appreciation. “I’m almost done with that hole. I’ll get the rest of what I need from the truck and patch up the hole I had to cut.”

Blue eyes darted over to the hole and Jack was relieved to see that the leaking had finally stopped. “Do you have anywhere to be after this?” The surprised look on Hiccup’s face had Jack scrambling to cover his tracks. “I mean, I was…shit…Sorry. I was just asking because I’m making paninis and I wanted to know if you wanted one, if you didn’t already have plans for lunch I mean.”

A lazy smile stretched across Hiccup’s face and he tilted his head slightly. “I’d like that. I’ve never had a panini before.”

Jack’s expression became almost scandalized. “That’s not okay. I’m going to introduce you to paninis that’s final. You don’t get to leave until you’ve eaten something.”

“Sounds good to me.” Hiccup agreed before setting his mug down. “I’ll get what I need and finish this up then. And once I’m done I’ll help you clean up so you can make lunch.”

“All right then.” Jack agreed with a small nod and a shy smile. “Well go on, do whatever it is you have to do.”

Hiccup laughed and headed out and if Jack took a moment to appreciate the view, he wasn’t going to confess to it.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Hiccup is a magical unicorn

“Ja-ack!”

Jack keeps his eyes closed tightly. If he doesn’t open them then he won’t have to deal with whatever just happened. He knew that tone. That was the one that Emma used when something went wrong any moment now he would hear those five words that always followed his name in that tone: I didn’t do it but…

“Ja-ack! I didn’t do it, but…something broke in the living room.” Emma called from where she was standing, sounded like in the hall.

He groaned and pulled the blankets over his head before sighing. He could handle this; it would be fine. Because this house shouldn’t be falling apart on them! Emma padded into the room and climbed up onto the bed, tugging anxiously at the blankets that hid her brother.

“Jack, wake up. The stairs broke.” she urged.

Blue eyes flew open and Jack sat up quickly. “What? What do you mean the stairs broke?”

Emma opened her mouth but a loud groan made her stop and the two siblings looked toward the door and by extension the hallway. A loud bang was heard and Emma made a startled noise before trying to bury her way into her brother’s arms. Jack sighed and scooped her into a tight grip before moving carefully into the hallway and toward the stairs. The bannister was lying in pieces on the living room floor. How in the hell did that even happen?

The house was trying to kill him; of this he was becoming more certain. Clearly this house was possessed and wanted him to suffer. Yes, it was an older house but this was ridiculous. He put Emma down and sent her to get dressed before he stepped into the room he was using and pulled on a loose pair of sweatpants before carefully making his way down the stairs. What the hell was he going to do now?

“Call Hiccy.” Emma chirped from where she sat at the top of the stairs. “He’s magical. He can fix it.”

Jack groaned and rubbed his hand over his face before reaching up and motioning for Emma to come down to him. She stood and made her way carefully down the steps, staying close to the wall as she did so, then took Jack’s outstretched hand only to make a noise when she was hoisted up into his arms. He wasn’t going to have her step on a rouge nail or something. He stepped carefully, somehow managing to avoid any major debris in his half asleep state, and deposited her onto the couch.

“Stay.” he ordered with a yawn then handed her the remote before shuffling blindly into the kitchen.

Moments later he could hear some kid’s program on the telly and nodded to himself. That would work. He needed something stronger than tea today and went straight for the coffee while working on putting ingredients for waffles on the counter. He poured a cup and then stood in front of the mess of wood and whatever else the crap was on the hardwood floors, watching it for a long moment.

Yes, the entire bannister had come down from the stairs. Good to know he wasn’t completely hallucinating. Movement on the couch made him glance over, squinting slightly at the early morning sunlight flooding the massive front windows, to look at his sister. Emma was on her knees on the couch facing him, her arms crossed over the back of it.

“Gonna call Hiccy?” she asked, kicking her feet childishly. “He’s like a unicorn. All magical and can fix anything.”

It was too early for Jack to be dealing with unicorns named Hiccup. But he couldn’t leave this crap on the floor. With a groan and a tired zombie like shuffle he made his way into the kitchen again to grab the corded phone from where it hung on the wall. Really, who used corded phones anymore? His mother did apparently…or rather his mother had. He punched in a number that was slowly becoming familiar and waited, leaning his head against the wall as it rang and nearly falling back asleep.

“Hello?”

Jack sighed before mumbling into the device. “Merida, I need your magical unicorn.”

The redhead was silent for a long moment. “Yeh wat?”

“I need your unicorn cousin.” he tried again, hoping to sound more awake…he failed.

Merida yelled something away from the phone and there was a laughing exchange of hands before Hiccup’s voice was heard. “Hello?”

“I need help.” Jack mumbled only to curse when he dropped the mug of coffee and it shattered, spilling the hot liquid on the floor and Jack’s feet.

“Jack?” Hiccup asked worriedly. “Jack are you there?”

Jack danced around the coffee for a moment, cursing and managed to move out of the way of the spill. “Sorry for yelling in your ear.” he said after a long moment. “My bannister decided to commit suicide and so has my coffee cup.”

Hiccup tried not to laugh at the pitiful sounds of Jack’s lament. But it was really difficult when he sounded that adorable. “Okay, I’ll be over in a few minutes. Just, stay where you are. Is Emma okay?”

“She’s on the couch.” Jack mumbled.

“Make sure she stays there. I’m on my way, don’t do anything else.” Hiccup ordered.

Jack sighed. “M’kay.”

They hung up their respective phones and Jack stood in the middle of the kitchen staring forlornly at the mess on the floor before groaning again. After reassuring Emma that he was okay and that she needed to stay on the couch, Jack made his way over to the front door and unlocked it before going back into the kitchen. He really should clean up the now cool coffee and broken ceramic shards but he just wanted to sleep. He wrapped his arms around his bare chest and then draped himself over his counter feeling pathetic.

A few minutes later the front door opened and Jack could hear Emma greeting Hiccup. There was a low whistle, one Jack was becoming familiar with, and then footsteps approaching. Jack didn’t bother to move from where he’d folded himself over the counter, his cheek pressed against the cool marble. Hiccup chuckled slightly as he got closer only to stop short when Jack lifted his head to look at him. Sweet gods above the man was shirtless and pitiful and if Hiccup were a lesser man he’d probably be arrested for unwanted snogging. Hiccup took a steadying breath before carefully making his way over to the pale man, dutifully stepping around the coffee.

“So, my cousin said you needed a unicorn.” Hiccup prompted. “What happened to the stairs?”

Jack sighed and laid his head back down, this time pressing his forehead to the marble instead of his cheek. He didn’t care if it was cold, it made him feel a little better if he ignored the shivering. “I need magical unicorn powers to fix it…I don’t know. Emma just came and told me that the stairs broke and then we heard a bang and then…well the bannister leapt to its death.”

Hiccup chuckled and shook his head. “And the coffee cup?”

“I plead the 5th.” Jack mumbled.

“So you killed an innocent bystander then.” Hiccup prompted with a small grin, his smile widening when Jack grunted something unintelligent and looked away. “Right then, let’s get this mess cleaned up. Do you have any more coffee?”

Jack nodded slightly, a weird movement since he refused to lift his head at the moment. “Yeah it’s a fresh pot.”

Hiccup nudged him until he moved and stood up then pushed Jack closer to the coffee maker. “Pour two cups and leave them on the counter. I’ll clean up this mess since I’ve got shoes and you don’t. Then I’ll see about fixing the bannister.”

A sleepy mumbling agreement came from Jack and Hiccup shook his head before turning away. He was not going to jail today. Nope, not going to do it. He found a dish rag and cleaned up the coffee carefully before getting the broom and sweeping up the entire floor. He didn’t want microscopic shards cutting into Jack’s feet. Once that was done he fetched Emma from the living room and brought her to one of the barstools that lined the edge of the counter/eating area in the dining room. Neither of these siblings wore shoes apparently.

“How do you want it?” Jack asked suddenly causing Hiccup to nearly choke on his tongue.

“What?” he asked quickly, jerking his head toward the other man.

Jack frowned, his brows furrowed together as he tried to make his mind figure out what had startled Hiccup so suddenly. “Your coffee, how do you want it?”

Hiccup let out a small sigh. That’s what he meant. Okay, that he could handle. “Ah two sugars and some cream.”

Jack yawned and nodded as he went about fixing the coffee before sliding it over to Hiccup, mumbling something about evil houses and suicidal stairs. Hiccup smiled and took a small sip of the coffee before glancing at Emma who had orange juice in front of her.

“Is he always like this?” he asked after a moment.

Emma shook her head. “Nope, usually he’s all hyper and stuff. Like one of those crazy fluffy dogs. But he was up all right on the phone with an angry lady.”

Green eyes darted over to look back at Jack who stood with the fridge door open, frowning in confusion at the contents. Clearly whatever he was looking for, he either couldn’t find or couldn’t remember what it was.

“Emma…” Jack began, scratching his head and messing up his horrendous case of bed head even further. “What?”

Emma giggled. “Waffles Jack, you’re making waffles.”

Blue eyes narrowed and Jack nodded with a yawn before going about with whatever he’d been doing. Hiccup sat for a moment longer before pushing himself away, coffee cup in hand, to go check on the bannister and see what had happened to make it suddenly fall. That was, after all, highly unusual behavior for an inanimate object. He set the cup down on of on the steps as he crouched down to inspect different things, listening absently to the conversation between the siblings.

After several minutes, and lots of scribbling on a broken chunk of wood Hiccup was called back over to the pair. He set down the wood he was holding, tucking his pencil back behind his ear, and gathered up his surprisingly good coffee before returning to the two. Emma grinned and patted the seat next to her enthusiastically.

“Time for waffles.” she chirped excitedly. “Chocolate chip ones! From scratch.”

Hiccup blinked and turned to look at Jack who seemed much more awake now and was studiously avoiding his gaze. The green-eyed man grinned slightly. “Really? From scratch?”

Jack rubbed the back of his neck as he switched out Emma’s orange juice for milk after making her drink a cup of water first. “It’s the only way to make anything. How many do you want?”

Hiccup frowned. “Hm?”

Jack motioned toward the waffle iron, a big old Belgium beast of a device. “How many do you want?”

“Two!” Emma exclaimed, on her knees once more, and dutifully ignoring the pointed look her brother was giving her. “Two! Two!”

Jack sighed and nodded before glancing at Hiccup expectantly. “Well? I did call you at a hideous hour this morning, the least I can do it make breakfast for you at the moment. So again, how many do you want?”

Hiccup scratched his cheek. “Three?”

“Three it is.” Jack murmured with a nod.

Hiccup was surprised with the speed that Jack worked, he certainly knew his way around a waffle iron and a pan and a grill. He’d been treated with several mouth-wateringly good lunches over the past few days while he’d been helping Jack move into the house more. Soon warm waffles were placed in front of him and Emma snatched up the chocolate syrup before Jack took it from her. She pouted as her brother poured some sauce onto her waffles but the pout soon disappeared as she began to eagerly dig into her breakfast.

Jack glanced at Hiccup and held up the bottle. “Want some too?”

Hiccup bit the inside of his cheek, hard, to keep from saying something highly inappropriate. Instead he merely nodded and watched as Jack poured the chocolate sauce onto his waffles before setting it back down, well out of his sister’s reach, and nodded a bit.

“Tell me if you like them.” Jack encouraged as he hopped up onto a clean counter and tucked his long legs under himself, plate in his lap.

Hiccup nodded and took a bite, then another, and another before making a pleased sound. He swallowed his mouthful and washed it down with his coffee before nodding. “I hope you keep breaking stuff because I’m gonna be spoiled on this food. This is amazing.”

Jack merely smiled behind his own coffee cup. “Feel free to come over for meals then, I tend to cook too much for the two of us anyway.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.” Hiccup said after a moment, a small grin on his own face.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beware the angst

Jack glanced up from the papers he was looking over when he heard a door shut and then soft shuffling on the hardwood. He waited to see what Emma was going to do, ready to put his papers down for the evening if that was the case. Seconds later he had his answer when Emma stood looking lost and confused in the doorway.

“Emma?” he questioned curiously.

The girl sniffled loudly before rubbing at her eyes with her pajama covered arm. “I c-can’t find M-m-mummy!” she wailed.

Immediately Jack shoved everything aside and got up from where he’d been lounging on the guest bed. He crossed the room quickly and scooped up his sister into his arms. She wasn’t awake, that much was clear and it was obvious what her dreams had been about. Emma allowed herself to be held tightly, her own arms looping around her brother’s neck, one small hand fisting in the short white hairs for comfort as she became little more than a koala. Jack held her easily, she was small after all, and rubbed her back while trying to calm her.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m here Em, I’m here.” he said, forcing his voice to stay calm.

He had to keep himself as calm as could be to keep her from becoming more upset, no matter how much it broke his heart. Emma hid her face against his shoulder and cried. Her tears were exhaustion and fear and Jack did what he could to calm her down. He rubbed her back and spoke softly to her, trying to reassure her that she wasn’t alone and that he was there. It took some time but he managed to calm her down enough to stop the tears from falling, a small victory in his mind.

“Stay?” Emma asked, her voice small and frail.

Jack nodded slightly and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Yeah, stay. Come on, lay down with me.”

Emma allowed herself to be laid down and she crawled under the blankets, watching Jack for a long moment. He offered a small smile and grabbed a second blanket from the chest at the end of the bed then brought it up with him as he flopped onto the bed. He was all smiles and playful antics and soon Emma was giggling and hitting him with a pillow.

The play didn’t last long and soon Jack was lounging in a half-sitting position with Emma curled up against his side snoring softly. He was uncomfortable and knew that he’d have a terrible crick in his back in the morning but he didn’t care. He just wanted his sister to be sleeping peacefully. Absently he pet her hair and watched as she slept, her face relaxed and at peace. No nightmares were going to get her while Jack was there. He’d make sure of it. He let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose before staring up at the ceiling. It was hard, but he was trying. The gods knew he was trying his best to keep the family together and sane.

Morning settled on the small sleepy town and Jack groaned slightly when he was blasted with sun directly to his face. He reached up to rub his face and then proceeded to fall off the bed when the alarm suddenly went off, startling the young man. He hit the floor with a firm thud and groaned slightly from where he lay, staring up at his ceiling. He really ought to re-spackle the ceiling…or get someone else to do it for him who actually knew how...Suddenly large brown eyes were peering over the edge of the bed down at him.

“You fell down.” Emma supplied helpfully.

“Ya think?” Jack muttered before rolling slightly and making a sound as his feet hit the floor beside him. “Sleep well kiddo?”

Emma nodded as she sat back, watching Jack slowly stagger to his feet. “Yes.”

Jack turned his gaze to his sister, there was still a haunted look in her eyes but he wasn’t sure if that would ever disappear. Not after what she’d experienced. Absently he debated with different things before rubbing the back of his neck.

“Do you want to go to school today?” he asked, reaching out to pat her on the head.

The girl took the question into serious thought, her brows drawing together as she turned it over in her mind. “Yes, I’ll go. We’re going to the star-dome, remember?”

Jack smiled. “The planetarium, yes. All right kiddo, go get dressed and I’ll make some breakfast. Gotta be ready before Rapunzel and Elfi get here to take you to school.”

He watched as Emma lit up and took off out the door. Jack sighed and rubbed the back of his neck before moving downstairs. He’d fallen asleep in the clothes he’d been wearing the day before and didn’t bother to change just yet. He’d deal with that crap when his sister was off to school. Right now he had more important things to do, like feed the monster and make sure her lunch was ready. The stairs had been repaired nearly a week ago and Jack smiled whenever he saw the banister. It had been an interesting few days to be certain.

He paused at the front door and unlocked it so that way Rapunzel and Elfi could just come in when they arrived. He decided on a bowl of cereal for the morning while he worked on making Emma’s lunch. He was slicing apples by the time she showed up and started to eat her breakfast. They didn’t speak, instead listening to the music that played softly on the small stereo sitting on one of the counters. Soon Emma pushed her bowl into the sink and ran back upstairs to get her things.

“Good morning!” Rapunzel called as she stepped into the house, a pie in one hand and Elfi holding the other.

The girl was released as she raced up the stairs after calling a quick hello to Jack. He glanced up and offered a small smile to the blonde when she came in, clad in paint splattered overalls this time. Her green eyes dimmed slightly as she set the pie down on the counter, then reached out to touch his arm worriedly.

“Rough night?” she asked softly.

Jack grimaced. “Does it show?”

The blonde woman seemed to be debating on what to say and finally offered a tiny smile and a hesitant nod. “You look really tired.” After a moment she seemed to come to a decision within herself. “Hey, how about I take Emma for the afternoon. You take some time to rest and recover. You’re gonna make yourself sick at this rate. We’ll bring her back after dinner, I’m making lasagna. Or you can come over for dinner!” She smiled brightly. “But anyway, after school Elfi and I are going to the park to catch caterpillars so she can see the transformation to a butterfly. We could take Emma with us, I’ve got extra little containers so she can watch her own progress.”

Jack thought it over before nodding slightly. “Yeah, she’d like that. Emma likes bugs.”

Rapunzel laughed and called the girls down so they could walk to the school. Jack informed Emma of the bug hunt and predictably the girl begged to be allowed to go. He handed over the lunch box, classic Star Wars of all things, and waved them off before retreating into the house. He stood for a long moment in the semi-silence before letting out a sigh. He busied himself with cleaning the kitchen and the living room and then the downstairs bathroom and the halls. It didn’t take long and Jack found himself standing in the middle of the living room.

His gaze lingered on the stack of unopened letters that rested on an end table and he sighed. They were all the same, sympathy and well wishes from people he didn’t know. People who knew his parents and knew Emma, strangers telling him the same thing over and over again and he had to just smile and accept it because it would be rude to do otherwise. He took a deep breath and then sighed only to close his eyes tightly. The walls were beginning to creep in on him and Jack panicked. He suddenly couldn’t breathe.

He closed his eyes tightly again before turning and escaping from the house, barely having enough sense of mind to grab shoes and his keys. The door swung shut behind him with a loud bang and Jack couldn’t bring himself to care. He just needed, he needed to get some air and put some space between him and the oppressing home that was his mother’s sanctuary. His mind wandered as his feet paced along the sidewalk. He didn’t think about where he was going and he didn’t focus on things around him until he came to a stop in front of a heavy iron gate. The town cemetery.

Jack hesitated. He hadn’t been back since the funeral and even then, he’d been absent or so he felt. He reached up with a shaking hand and pushed open the latch, wincing at the heavy creak of the hinges. Over a hundred years would do that to an iron gate though. Still Jack hesitated before taking a deep breath and stepping into the world of the dead. A chill raced down his spine and he shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket before picking his way through the rows of polished stones toward the newest ones in the sacred place.

Blue eyes stared unseeing for a moment at the headstones which marked his mother and Adam’s final places. Slowly he sank down to one knee in front of them and sighed heavily. “Hey mum, Adam…”

If he tried hard enough he could still picture his mother and her warm smiles. How long had it been since he’d actually last seen her face? Gods how many times did he tell her he’d visit the next year since he’d left? Guilt built in his stomach and he let out a ragged and shaky breath. Had he hurt her then? Disappointed her when he chose not to fly across the country on holidays?

“I…” Jack took a steadying breath. “I miss you mum. It’s, harder than I thought to be doing this. I’m trying my best to raise her, to help Emma through this. It’s so damn hard though. I don’t know how you did it.” He sank down to both knees and settled back, staring at his mother’s name carved on cold rock. “I don’t know what I’m doing and I feel overwhelmed. The house is on a rampage and falling apart left and right, Emma wakes up almost every night crying…I can’t sleep anymore. I haven’t slept in days…Emma needs me to be there for her and all I can think of is how I’ve failed her. I wasn’t here for you guys and I wasn’t…I’m not.” He choked on a sob and closed his eyes tightly as tears escaped. “Aunt Lavinia is trying to get Emma; she’s convinced I’ll corrupt her after our last encounter. I know that it disappointed you, how I handled that situation. And now I can’t help but think this is punishment for being a bad son.”

He fell silent for a long moment and sat back, tipping his face skyward to stare up at the clouds. It was a rare sunny day in Berk and Jack couldn’t help but feel mocked. Usually the weather matched his darker moods but today it seemed determined to be bright and full of sunshine.

“I quit school for now, until I can get things settled with Emma and get her into a routine.” Jack continued after a moment. “I guess I can add that to the list of disappointments. I’ll have to find a job soon even though the money from your…it’s more than enough to live on for a while but I want to use it for Emma…in case she needs someone different.” Another ragged sigh came from him and he closed his mouth, lips thinning in disgust with himself, before his eyes turned back to the ground and the unresponsive headstones. “Gods, I need you now more than I ever have mum. I feel so lost right now, tired and stretched thin…”

The breeze ruffled his hair and Jack fell silent. He tried to keep himself pulled together, tried to stay strong. But he was so damn tired and alone. He shifted slightly to sit down properly and rested his forehead against his dirty knees, not caring about how he looked. He just needed to compose himself, he needed help and he didn’t know where to turn. Jack sighed again and after several moments lifted his head to look at the graves again.

“I’ll keep trying. Trying to take care of Emma and all that. I have to keep her on her path and all that…I won’t leave her alone. I’m all she’s got I know.” Jack mumbled. “I just…I don’t know how.”

Silence answered him.


	6. Chapter Six

The day had been a good one at first. He’d woken up on time, there was nothing to worry about with work because he was off, Toothless joined him on a good run, and Merida wasn’t screaming profanities over the headset at people who were camping on the Xbox. He should have known that it wasn’t going to last when his phone chimed and he read the text message…from his mother.

_We’re on our way to visit you! <3_

He sat up suddenly and nearly dislodged said cousin as she lounged over his legs. “Sunnova!”

The redhead grinned at him rather wickedly. “Did ya ferget somethin?”

“You ass!” Hiccup snapped, kicking Merida in the arse as she stood up to get the controller from the entertainment center. “You know I forgot they were coming! Why didn’t you remind me earlier!”

Merida snickered and then shrugged slightly. “Am I supposed tae be yer PA too?”

Hiccup scrambled to his feet and then stood looking hopelessly lost for a moment before letting out a sound of aggravation and glared at the woman. “They’ll be here in a few hours Meri!”

She hummed and then nodded. “Right, tha house is clean mostly and I’ll put tha guest rum back tagether. But wut are ya gonna make far dinner?”

“Shit.” The color drained from Hiccup’s face and he made a pained noise as he paced in circles around Toothless.

The Great Dane watched his human go around before huffing and laying his head down on his paws, ignoring the agitated pacing. Honestly, humans were so weird sometimes. Finally Hiccup came to a stop and ran his hands through his hair.

“Do I take them out for dinner?” he asked out loud while Merida took up her spot on the couch again. “I can’t cook worth a damn…”

His cousin made a thoughtful noise before leaning back to look at him slightly. “Well they’ll be here far the weekend. Do ya want tae take ‘em out that much?”

Hiccup made a pained expression before rubbing his hand over his face. “Hell what do I…That’s it!” He suddenly looked gleeful and snapped his fingers.

Merida frowned. “Wut’s it?”

“Help!” Hiccup exclaimed as he dove toward the couch and caused Merida to let out a sharp squeal. “Where did I put it…”

“Wut are ya on about?” Merida tried again as Hiccup suddenly surged to his feet with his phone gripped in his head.

He waved his hand at her dismissively. “Getting help.”

“With wut?” she prompted again with a scowl.

Hiccup rolled his eyes as he pulled up someone in his contacts and pressed the phone to his ear. “Food.”

Merida rolled her eyes. That was descriptive… “Yer mental.”

The man ignored her in favor of pacing into the kitchen while he listened to the rings on the small device. “Come on, please answer.”

“Hello?”

“Jack!”

“Hiccup?” the smaller man sounded honestly surprised to hear from the do-all.

“I need you!” Hiccup exclaimed as he grimaced at the barren fridge.

Jack was silent for a moment. “Uhh…”

“Shit!” The green eyed man winced when he suddenly realized how it might have sounded. “I need your help. That’s what I mean.”

Laughter sounded down the line, and in the living room from his cousin, before Jack hummed slightly. “Sure, what do you need help with?”

“Can you meet me at the grocery store?” Hiccup prompted as he left the kitchen to head toward the door. He gathered his keys and wallet and shoved them in pockets while he slipped on a pair of trainers. “Please? I promise I’ll explain there.”

“The store?” Jack repeated and there was a shuffling of papers in the background. “Yeah, gimme about ten minutes and I’ll be there. I’m just finishing up here.”

Hiccup cringed again. “Sorry, are you busy?”

Jack laughed again. “No, it’s fine. I’ll be there shortly.”

“You’re a lifesaver!” Hiccup claimed.

“Sure, sure. Depends what you need from me.” Jack teased while Hiccup climbed into the truck.

They wrapped up the sudden call and Hiccup took off, mentally calculating what he’d need. He parked in the mostly empty lot and waited by the automatic doors for Jack, shifting back and forth on his feet. Soon Jack showed up, having walked from his house, and greeted Hiccup with a small smile.

“So, what did you need my help with?” Jack prompted again, tilting his head slightly to the side.

Hiccup turned and looked at the smaller man with a smile. “So, I’m sort of an idiot and forgot that my parents are visiting. I can’t cook, can you help me?”

Jack blinked several times and then burst out laughing. “Oh my gods.”

“I’m serious Jack!” Hiccup whined. “I can’t cook worth a damn and I don’t want to constantly take them out! Please? Please help me?”

It took a few minutes for Jack to collect himself but he nodded and headed into the grocery store, tugging Hiccup after him by his tee-shirt sleeve. “Yes you big baby. I’ll help you. When will they be here and what do they generally like?”

“In a few hours…” Hiccup mumbled before shooting a text to Merida to stop playing video games and work on the guest room. “What do they like?”

“Yeah, what do they like to eat?” Jack repeated with a small frown as he grabbed a cart and then turned to look over his shoulder at Hiccup. “You know; meals they prefer?”

“Oh!” Hiccup frowned in thought as he trailed behind Jack who started toward the produce. “Meat? My dad likes meat…mom sort of just eats whatever is served?”

Jack turned to look at Hiccup. “You don’t know what sort of stuff your parents would order out?”

Hiccup scowled and crossed his arms. “It’s not something I really pay attention to.”

Jack rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Right then, let’s get started shall we? They’re driving right?” He hummed when Hiccup made a sound of agreement. “What’s the budget we’re looking at? And how many meals are they staying for?”

“What?” Hiccup scratched his head. “Uh, they’ll be here tonight and they’ll leave some time Monday. So…four meals?” He frowned thoughtfully and then sighed. “I don’t really have a budget so whatever you think can pass?”

“Hm,” Jack made a thoughtful noise as he stared at different heads of lettuce. “Right then, so we have to plan for five meals; two dinners, two breakfasts, and a lunch…unless you guys aren’t planning on a traditional sit down lunch.”

“Nah, we don’t usually.” Hiccup muttered with a shake of his head. “If we do lunch we’ll probably run to the diner, mom likes to eat there at least once when she visits.”

Another thoughtful noise came from Jack as he started grabbing stuff and putting them into bags. Hiccup gathered up carrots and onions when Jack requested them. A bag of potatoes went into the cart with stuff to make fresh salad. Jack grabbed a baguette examined it for a moment before grinning and tossing it in.

“For dinner this evening, they’ll be traveling so you want something that will fill them because they probably won’t eat much right?” Jack prompted. “How long is the trip and are they the type to stop and get lunch?”

“No, dad hates stopping. Sandwiches from the cooler type stuff…” Hiccup scratched his cheek as he considered the question. “They’ll be starved.”

Jack made his way over to the meat and stared at the different options for a moment, bright blue eyes darting one way and then another before narrowing. He considered something then shook his head dismissively before making a small sound of understanding. “Any allergies?”

“Nope, but mom doesn’t like mushrooms.” Hiccup explained as he stared at the different choices spread out in front of him.

Jack nodded and then lifted his head to speak briefly with the man behind the counter. Hiccup watched the interaction curiously. It seemed the man was rather fond of Jack, or Jack was a really good customer. Soon they were walking away with a large roast and a few fresh tilapias. They continued to weave their way through the store, occasionally darting down one aisle or another for Jack to grab something that seemed obscure.

“I would have either taken them to the diner all the time…or gotten like frozen stuff…” Hiccup muttered with a frown as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

Jack glanced over his shoulder and smirked. “You asked my help, I happen to know how to cook decently enough. Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”

Hiccup snorted. “You planning on coming over every day to cook for my parents?”

“Should I?” Jack asked with a grin. “How you and Merida survive is beyond me.”

“Chinese take out?” Hiccup offered with a shrug.

Jack snorted and then shook his head as he came to a stop in front of a selection of soups and different stocks. “Not enough time to make our own…” Jack muttered to himself before frowning slightly. “Seriously, you two are pathetic.”

“Probably. What are we looking for?” Hiccup prompted, glancing toward the products. He didn’t often come this way so he wasn’t familiar with what he was looking at.

“Beef stock, I doubt you’ve got any.” Jack explained as he stared for a moment. “And we won’t have time to make our own. Now, for the menu while they are here—“

“There is a menu?” Hiccup asked suddenly.

Jack frowned as he grabbed one of the options, giving Hiccup an odd sideways look. “Yeah, you have to have a menu. Moving on, tonight we’ll do roast beef since you said your dad likes meat with homemade mashed potatoes and orange glazed carrots and Yorkshire pudding.” Jack seemed to be talking to himself as he looked at the contents of the cart. “Tomorrow for breakfast berry crepes…wait…probably not. Hmm maybe omelets instead since I don’t think your dad is a crepe person.”

“What’s a crepe?” Hiccup prodded, bumping into Jack when he suddenly stopped. “What?”

Jack stared at Hiccup as if he’d grown another head. “I’m sorry, you sheltered food baby.”

Hiccup snorted and shook his head. “What did you just call me?”

“Sheltered food baby.” Jack answered casually before heading off to get some fresh sausage and then making his way to the eggs, Hiccup trailing after him. “So we’ll do omelets, a hearty breakfast for your parents. You won’t be doing lunch you said so that isn’t an issue and then tomorrow night for dinner it’ll be grilled tilapia with a homemade salad and…something else. I’ll have to figure out what else to put with it later. I’ll think on it tonight…”

“Damn Jack, you go all out.” Hiccup commented quietly.

Jack stopped suddenly and looked over at the taller man. “Sorry, you asked for my help…not for me to plan it. I got carried away…would you rather I stop?”

Hiccup grinned and shook his head. “Nope, you do your thing. You make good food so I’ll just buy and you show me what to do.”

Jack chuckled and shook his head slightly. “Not that easy but come on, we’ve got what we need for now. Wait, do you guys usually do dessert?”

Hiccup shook his head. “Not generally.”

Jack nodded slightly and then hummed thoughtfully before surveying the cart again and nodding. “Right then, let’s get home and get this started. It’ll take a little bit to get everything going.”

“Where’s Emma?” Hiccup asked suddenly, his eyes wide.

Jack laughed. “At Rapunzel’s house. They’re doing some sort of pot making…I don’t know.”

“Pottery wheels.” Hiccup supplied with a nod. “Rapunzel just started doing that stuff. It’s therapeutic.”

“You do pottery?” Jack asked surprised as they stepped into line and began to unload all their goodies, Jack taking time to make sure the foods were grouped in specific sections before bagging the stuff himself while it was rung up by a bored looking clerk.

Hiccup shrugged. “Man of many talents.”

“Except cooking.” Jack teased.

“Shut up!”


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is so domestic, so housewifey what has the world come to. Also, I can’t cook…so I’m not Jack. Everything that he’s doing is purposely vague as hell.

Merida was gone when they got to the house and Hiccup directed Jack toward the kitchen while he moved to go check on the guest room. Luckily Merida had cleared it out and even stripped the bed, changing the sheets. But where did she even go? He didn’t think much about it before heading into the kitchen to find that Jack had opened every single cabinet in the room.

“Jack?”

Blue eyes turned toward him, narrowed in irritation and frustration. “Did you guys just move in?”

Hiccup blinked, his eyes wide. “What?”

“There is nothing here. You have a few basics like salt and sugar…flour.” Jack made a vague motion. “Why is there nothing else? You have the most pathetic kitchen I have ever seen.”

“Hey! We’ve got…stuff. I told you, microwave everything.” Hiccup protested.

There was a heavy sigh from Jack and the white haired man pinched the bridge of his nose. “Right, we need to go to my house to get the rest of what we need.”

Hiccup puffed up his cheeks but then let out a heavy sigh and nodded. The trip to Jack’s house was quiet as the truck eased through the small town streets. Jack stared at the dashboard for a moment and then frowned.

“Why is there sawdust everywhere?” he asked suddenly.

“I’m a carpenter.” Hiccup said with a shrug.

Jack snorted. “What don’t you do?”

“I don’t do ballet or cook.” Hiccup answered honestly with a grin and a shrug. “Oh, I don’t paint either unless it’s a house or something.”

Jack’s lips twitched slightly and then he burst out laughing, leaning heavily against the door. Soon Hiccup joined in and the two had to sit for several minutes in the driveway simply laughing. Once they’d managed to compose themselves they were quick to get what they needed from Jack’s kitchen, which ended up being almost everything but the fridge and the sink. Hiccup grabbed one of the large totes filled with a few pans and other cooking utensils while Jack grabbed another smaller one that contained an array of spices and such other apparent necessities for the evening. Soon enough they were back in Hiccup’s kitchen and Jack was going about with a surprising intensity; flipping on the stove and burners, measuring things, rinsing off the cutting board and knives they’d brought.

Hiccup didn’t offer to help, letting Jack do his thing as the smaller male easily maneuvered around Hiccup as if he weren’t really there. He smiled and took a few steps back before hopping up onto one of the counters that wasn’t in Jack’s immediate area, watching the other man. He really didn’t know what Jack did but he seemed to be completely at ease in the kitchen. Jack stood for a moment, muttering to himself before putting the kettle on to boil. Apparently he needed tea. The sound of the front door opening drew his attention away from Jack as Toothless stood up where he was lying near the entrance of the kitchen. The dog merely made a huff and then settled back down, he wasn’t allowed in the kitchen and knew it, clearly not concerned with whomever came in.

“Meri?” Hiccup called.

“Aye.” came the response followed with a rustling sound that sounded like paper bags.

Hiccup watched his cousin shuffle in with a few bags in hand. “Where did you go?”

Merida snorted and then nodded in greeting to Jack as she set her purchases on the dining table just off the kitchen. “Ya probably fergot that wee’re low on stuff tae drink. I went an’ fixed it.” She made a motion to the bags for a moment. “But I’m goin’ out fer a bit. Gotta meet up wit’ some of tha gerls. Won’t be long.”

“Yeah, all right. Thanks Mer, I didn’t even think about it.” Hiccup mumbled after a moment, frowning as he hopped down from the counter to snoop through the different things she’d gotten. “Just be back ‘cause you know how mom and dad are.”

Merida made a sound of agreement before disappearing down the hall, Toothless following her curiously, and then heading out the door with something in hand. The large black dog huffed in irritation before returning to lay down near the entrance of the kitchen, watching Jack closely. Hiccup stared down at the dog for a moment and reached out to rub him with his foot before returning to the kitchen.

“I was almost convinced that he was going to maul me.” Jack said suddenly as he worked on cleaning off the potatoes they’d purchased. “He stood up and barreled right at me. I didn’t know you had a dog.”

“Oh!” Hiccup blinked and stared down at Toothless. “Yeah I forgot he gets protective of the house. I didn’t even think about it…normally he just corners a stranger until Merida or I show up to assess the threat.” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”

Jack shrugged, setting a few clean potatoes on the cutting board. “It’s fine. He stopped before tackling me and then licked my face. So no harm done.”

Hiccup stared down at Toothless for a moment in surprise. The dog didn’t often take to strangers… clearly he liked Jack enough that he didn’t find him trouble. Hiccup tried not to think on that too much, not a good thing to try and focus on. Or rather too much to focus on while Jack was standing there in his kitchen making tea.

“Would you like some?” Jack asked, glancing sideways at Hiccup.

Hiccup blinked and then smiled and shook his head. “Nah, thanks. I’m good.”

Jack hummed and then nodded before reaching into the spice bin they’d brought and pulled out a small jar…of sugar cubes. Hiccup watched him for a moment as he added two to the cup of tea and then popped one in his mouth with a small smile.

“That can’t be healthy for you.” Hiccup pointed out with a small smirk.

Jack glanced at him almost coquettishly under dark lashes and grinned. “Probably not.”

There was a moment of quiet between them while Jack took a series of small sips of his tea before setting it on the counter and going back to working on the potatoes. The comfortable silence fell over them and Hiccup watched as Jack went through the motions of rinsing then chopping the potatoes with a practiced ease.

“Did you cook a lot before you moved here?” Hiccup asked as he watched the potatoes become smaller chunks before being tossed into a large pot of water that starting to slowly boil.

Jack glanced up and then offered a small smile and nodded. “Something like that.”

Hiccup hesitated for a minute, wondering if what happened before was still a touchy subject. “Your mother mentioned you were in school once, when I was over helping install a new sink in the kitchen.”

“Yeah, I moved to New York a few years before they moved here. I was going to school there and lived with a few of my classmates.” Jack explained, rinsing the knife before setting it down and checking on the large pot of potatoes. “I did the cooking for us when we’d have meals together. It’s calming.”

“Right.” Hiccup hummed in agreement.

They fell back into silence and Jack went to work on the roast, but not before stealing another sugar cube. Hiccup grinned but chose not to mention it or bring it up. He didn’t want to harass Jack or make the other man feel uncomfortable. He was doing Hiccup a favor after all. Jack went about the kitchen, pulling out spices here and there while wielding the various other things he’d brought with him as if he’d been born with them in his hands. When the roast was apparently done with whatever Jack had been doing to it, the man moved on to the carrots and started to work on them.

The kitchen didn’t stay silent for long, Jack absently humming something while he worked on cutting the carrots. Hiccup was more than content to simply sit and listen to him, watching the ease in which he moved around the kitchen. It was, achingly domestic.

“Anything I can do to help? Hiccup asked suddenly. “Feels awkward with you doing all the work.”

Jack shrugged slightly and then grinned over his shoulder. “Now you know how I felt when my house tried to kill me.” Hiccup’s chuckle made him smile wider before he turned back to the carrots he was working on. “Talk to me.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know, tell me about yourself?” Jack paused for a moment to entertain himself with his tea before resuming his work. “Did you ever go to secondary?”

Hiccup made a sound of disagreement. “No, after high school I sort of did an apprenticeship thing with Gobber. My family has been in Berk for generations so we pretty much know everyone there is to know and all that mess.” Hiccup fiddled with the jar of sugar cubes absently. “One of the things about living in a small town I guess. But anyway I went to work for Gobber, I’ve been doing it most of my life. He’s kinda the handyman, or he was…we did a lot of construction work and sometimes we make boats…being so close to Seattle and all. But then I just sort of got involved with everything.”

Jack nodded. “Any plans to go on in your education?”

Hiccup bristled slightly. “Why?”

“Just a question.” Jack answered passively. “I put school on hold for now. But you’re probably busy with keeping the town running.”

“I guess.” Hiccup made a small sound as he got comfortable on the counter again. “But I hadn’t really thought about it. I like Berk and I like what I do here. My parents left a few years back, Merida showed up about six months after they left needing a place to stay. She just ended up never going back home…still not sure why she came to me instead of my parents.”

Jack shrugged but continued with working on the dinner. “You two close?”

Hiccup was silent as he considered the question. “We were as close as cousins separated by the ocean could be. She was living in Scotland, born and raised there. But I guess we were closer than our other family members. You have any cousins?”

Jack nodded. “A few but I only ever met them once. I’ve never met Adam’s family so I couldn’t say on their side. Mum said that Adam wasn’t really close with his family so I guess it never came up.”

A small sound of understanding came from Hiccup and things went comfortably quiet again. Jack stole another sugar cube as he continued to work and the humming started up again.

Hiccup smiled absently, he could get used to this.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've been slacking on this one guys! I swear sometimes I need a keeper.

Hiccup stared blearily at the sight before him. Jack was standing in his kitchen? He rubbed his sleep-tangled hair from his face before stumbling slightly into the kitchen, yawning loudly as he went. Toothless lifted his head from where he was laying guard at the edge of the kitchen and offered Hiccup’s hand a messy kiss when the human absently patted him on the head as he sat up.

“Morning Hiccup.” Jack greeted, an amused smile growing on his face as he took in Hiccup’s tired appearance, there were pillow creases on the side of his face. “Hope you don’t mind, Merida let me in.”

“Meri?” Hiccup repeated as he blinked, his gaze hazy with the fog of sleep.

Jack shrugged. “You didn’t answer. And since it’s about the time for breakfast anyway…” The white haired young man stopped and frowned. “Hiccup are you listening to me?”

Hiccup mumbled something and nodded. “Mhm, listening…” Well he was until he noticed the coffeepot had been apparently cleaned and had a full carafe of coffee. He zombie-shuffled his way over and poured a generous mug for himself then one for Jack. “I didn’t answer?”

“Your phone.” Jack explained as he stood in front of the stove. He flashed a brilliant smile and accepted the cup. “I’ll start the bacon and sausage in a few minutes, omelets aren’t good if they aren’t fresh.” He took a sip of his coffee before wrinkling his nose, needed doctoring. “Once you’re a little more human go set the table and put the menus down.”

“Menus?” Hiccup questioned, looking around at the numerous things covering his countertops. “Seriously? Menus?”

Jack scowled at Hiccup. “Yes menus, they don’t know what is available to be put in the omelets.” He motioned with his coffee cup toward a large container that held a few different cooking utensils. “They’re in there. I asked Merida if she’d be back but she said she had something else she was doing.”

Hiccup nodded slightly. “Her racing group meets every Sunday morning and they don’t usually finish until really late.” He reached down and plucked up one of the menus that sat in the tub, scanning it over. For some odd reason it made him smile. “Did you make this last night?”

Jack shook his head. “No, menus are things I used to make…”

Hiccup might have been tired but he wasn’t too tired to pick up on the hesitancy in Jack’s tone. He wasn’t going to push it and instead took a drink of his coffee before turning to refill his mug and then make another pot for his parents. He listened to Jack moving around behind him, messing with different bowls of ingredients.

“Hiccup come taste this.” Jack said suddenly.

“Taste what?” Hiccup questioned, wondering what the foodie in his kitchen was doing.

Jack made a motion with his hand and Hiccup came up behind him, peering over his shoulder to look at something in a metal bowl as he set Jack’s refilled cup down in front of them. He didn’t get a chance to ask anything as Jack reached up and pushed the meat into Hiccup’s mouth. Hiccup made a startled sound and but stayed close to Jack and dutifully tasted the ham.

“Some kind of ham?” Hiccup asked, resting his chin on Jack’s shoulder to look down at the meat.

Jack chuckled and turned his head just a bit to look at Hiccup. “Prosciutto, it’s an Italian thing. What do you think?”

“Hmm,” Hiccup hummed thoughtfully as he reached down and stole another piece. “It’s good.”

Jack slapped his hand away with a laugh. “Stop that, it’s for later.”

“I certainly hope I’m interrupting something.”

Jack and Hiccup bolted away from each other like they’d been burned and turned hastily to look at Valka, who stood watching the two with an amused smile. Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck and then cleared his throat before busying himself for a moment with his coffee.

“Hiccup, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”

Hiccup winced at the question. “Jack this is my mother Valka. Mom this is Jack, Julie’s son.”

Jack flinched at the addition of his mother’s name and offered a tight smile when a look of understanding crossed Valka’s face. So Hiccup’s mother had known his own as well…why didn’t that surprise him? Thankfully the tall woman didn’t bring up his mother’s death or even give him a pitying look, she merely smiled.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Valka said instead, a bright smile on her face. “You must be the young man that Merida was talking about last night. The food was delicious.”

The tightness in Jack’s smile disappeared and he seemed eager at the subject. “Was it? I’m glad. I’d had some reservations about halfway through prepping, I was worried it would be too heavy after a trip like you’d had.”

Valka made a dismissive motion with her hand. “Don’t be ridiculous, it was fantastic and a nice change from the light nibbles we’d had the whole trip over.” She accepted the cup of coffee from Hiccup with a smile and a nod. “But it was a nice drive, not so much traffic in the mountains.”

“That’s always a hard thing to guess.” Hiccup offered while watching as Jack packed and moved things around his fridge with an ease that was heartwarming. “Dad wasn’t too stressed when he got here at least.”

“Yes, he’ll be looking forward to some fishing with Gobber this afternoon. Neither will catch a damn thing but you know those two.” Valka stated with a small laugh as she added milk to her coffee when Jack offered the small dish.

Hiccup laughed a bit and nodded. “Where is dad?”

“Stoick will be down soon. He was in the shower when I came down.” Valka said by way of explanation. “Where’s Merida?”

“With the girls.” Hiccup answered as he started to set the table after a pointed look from Jack. “Have a seat mom, Jack’ll start soon…I think?”

Valka scoffed. “Are you making him do everything? The least you could do is get dressed properly, walking around in your sleep pants.” She paused and shot her son a knowing look. “Unless this happens all the time…”

Near the stove Jack choked on his coffee and Hiccup announced loudly that he was going to go get dressed and fled the room. Valka grinned at Hiccup’s retreating form before sitting herself down at the table with her coffee in hand.

“We’re…uh…” Jack floundered for a moment. “Hiccup and I aren’t…I mean. We’re not dating. We’ve never done this breakfast thing together before…not like this anyway.”

Valka glanced over at him. “Pity.”

Luckily Jack was saved from having to say anything by the arrival of Stoick. The man was huge! Jack found himself strongly reminded of his Uncle North and promptly froze when he found himself under an intense stare. Hurry Hiccup…

“You must be the boyfriend.” Stoick stated with a grunt, his voice gruff. “Sort of scrawny aren’t you?”

“Dad!” Hiccup exclaimed, rushing into the room. “Stop harassing my friends.”

Stoick spared his son a glance before turning back to stare down Jack who clutched a flipper in his hand tightly, staring wide-eyed at the large man. “I’m not harassing him. He’s small, look at him. You were fifteen last time you were that small.” Suddenly the big man rounded on his son. “You’re not dating a minor are you Hiccup?”

Hiccup made an interesting squawking noise and waved his arms frantically. “No! I’m not dating anybody!” Hiccup protested. “And Jack’s not a minor. He’s the same age I am.”

“Are you sure?” Stoick was looking at Jack skeptically.

Jack looked about ready to hit the floor.

“Stoick, get your coffee and sit down. Leave the boys alone.” Valka said suddenly, her eyes scanning over the menu with interest.

Hiccup shook his head and instead pushed his dad in the direction of the table. “Just sit, I’ll bring you the coffee.”

Stoick grunted and sat down beside Valka and blinked in surprise at the menu sitting across the plate while Hiccup hurried over to Jack and shook the smaller man from his shock. The two spoke in hushed but rather aggressive voices, their words muffled and hidden from the parents.

“Are they having a domestic?” Stoick asked suddenly, glancing at his wife.

Valka hummed in amusement. “I honestly don’t think they’re dating dear. Obviously Hiccup needs a good talking to if that’s the case. Jack’s a perfectly darling boy.” She paused for a moment and lowered her voice, glancing at the two in the kitchen for a moment before turning her attention back to Stoick. “Jack is Julie’s son.”

Stoick stilled at the comment and glanced over at Valka then to Jack who stood staring at the stove and pointedly ignoring Hiccup. “Won’t say anything about that.”

Valka nodded and then smiled brightly at Hiccup when he came over to top off the coffee in her mug and give Stoick his. “These menus are very detailed. Do you really have all these in the kitchen Jack?”

Jack glanced up and nodded. “Yeah I made sure I had all the ingredients to make the omelets. I hope that’s okay, figured a good meal before your busy day.”

“That’s nice of you.” Valka mused before pointing out one to Stoick, glancing at her own one last time. “Oh! I think I’ll try the spinach and feta omelet. Three eggs please.”

Jack nodded and began to move things around on the counter, occasionally slapping Hiccup’s hand with the flipper he wielded like a weapon. “Sure, no problem. Uh, Stoick?”

Stoick grunted again and looked over the menu before nodding. “Three meat.”

There was a hushed whisper from the kitchen that sounded suspiciously like Hiccup hissing, “I told you so.”

Jack was chuckling and he nodded again as he began to whip up the requested omelets, having already gotten the hashbrowns going in an iron skillet. “How do you want your hashbrowns?”

Valka seemed puzzled for a moment before a look of realization crossed her face. “Oh! I like mine lightly browned and Stoick wants hot sauce on his.”

“All right, they’re coming up.” Jack called back before shooing Hiccup out of his way and then more or less banishing him from the kitchen after getting his order as well.

Valka gave her son another smug look over her coffee cup. “I like him. I certainly hope you plan on keeping him.”

“Mother!”


	9. Chapter Nine

The mellow beats of a drum filled the kitchen as other instruments slowly joined the song before the vocals started only seconds in. Jack nodded along with the beat while he stood in the kitchen, looking through various recipes that his mother had written down on little index cards when he’d been a child. The memories these age-stained cards held...Jack smiled softly as he picked up one of the cards looking at the odd little baking bear in the corner. It was so 90s it made Jack shake his head. He’d found the long skinny box in one of the cabinets he’d yet to explore and was hit with a wave of nostalgia. Now he stood in the kitchen, shifting his weight back and forth in an odd little dance looking over the various dishes that had featured prominently in his childhood.

Blue eyes flickered through the different sections and he stopped at soups wondering if his mother’s famous chicken noodle one was there. Slender fingers danced across the tops of the cards rapidly and Jack made a sound of success as he pulled out the card in question looking over the ingredients before going back into the perfectly organized box to find the recipe for fat homemade noodles. Yes, she had written it down! He was going to make this for dinner! Yes!

“Jack?”

The man in question looked up from the cards filled with his mother’s neat and loopy writing to glance at his sister as she came into the room and climbed up onto one of the barstools lining the breakfast bar. “Hey scamp, what’s up?”

Emma shook her head absently. “The movie ended so I was bored.”

Jack smiled. “Movies do that.”

“Are you going over to Hiccy’s today?” Emma asked after a long moment of comfortable silence as the song changed over to something else.

“Nah,” Jack shook his head as he glanced down at the card in hand again. “His parents left a few days ago so he doesn’t need me to save them from starvation.”

Emma giggled, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. “Hiccy is a bad cook. Miss Merida said he caught the kitchen on fire once.”

“Doesn’t really surprise me.” Jack stated with another shake of his head.

Things fell silent again between the siblings and Jack glanced up from the card in hand again. He watched Emma as the girl glanced at the various index cards on the counter. She didn’t seem to really recognize the cards but she knew the writing. Had mum never used the cards?

“Mum always kept these up in the top.” Emma said after a long moment. “She was saving them for you so she could make you a book of them…or something…”

Jack inhaled sharply and stared down at the card as if seeing it for the first time, rubbing his thumb over the familiar lines and words. His mother was making him a recipe book? How…so very like her. “Well I’m gonna start using them again. Mum had good things on these cards.”

The child nodded absently before hopping down from the stool and disappearing back into the living room. Jack listened to her wandering around before plastic snaps of movie cases opening and closing were heard and the blaring opening of a Disney film was heard. He smiled at the familiarity of it all and then shook his head. Seemed like Lion King was the choice this time. He drummed his fingers on the countertop for a moment before humming slightly. That is, until Emma raced back into the room with wide eyes.

“Jack!” she yelled.

Immediately he looked up at his sister trying to find the cause behind her distress and then frowned when nothing was obviously wrong but she was waving around a brightly colored sheet of paper. “What’s wrong?”

Emma gave him a sheepish smile. “I forgot…”

Jack put his hand out expectantly and took the paper from his sister to look it over before groaning. “Emma, a bake sale? Really?”

“I forgot…” Emma mumbled.

“Did you sign up for it?” Jack prompted as he looked over the rules of the sale.

Nothing store bought unless it’s boxed mixes and such, all edible, yadda yadda yadda…cut and paste basically. Jack glanced up when Emma stayed quiet and the girl looked torn between two different thoughts, the emotions clear on her face.

“Emma?” he prodded quietly.

She shifted a bit on her feet and then sighed. “Mum always made stuff for the sale…”

Well there it was. That thing that she did…Jack couldn’t help but sigh softly. Of course their mother would always chip in and cook goodies for the bake sales. And of course Emma would want to keep doing it. Jack hummed a bit and then looked down at the list of things that were appropriate, which honestly looked like any edible pastry. He turned back to the various dessert recipes that his mother had looking for something to inspire him.

“Can…” Emma began only to stop.

Jack glanced over at his sister. “Can what?”

“I don’t want to make one of mum’s cookies. I want to do one of your things instead.” Emma mumbled.

“One of mine?” he repeated surprised. “You sure?”

Emma seemed to ponder the question, a serious expression on her youthful face before she nodded firmly. “Yes, because mum isn’t here…so…”

“I get it.” Jack murmured as he reached out and pulled his sister to him, hugging her tightly. “All right so I’ll come up with something then to make. Something new and different. Any requests?”

“Nope!” Emma chirped, a bright smile on her face. “Just something good.”

He laughed and pushed his sister gently, herding her back out of the kitchen and into the living room to watch her movies and leave him in peace. Jack drummed his fingers on the countertop as he leaned against the marble heavily. Something good that would be good for a bake sale…He moved about the kitchen, opening various cabinet doors and looking at what he had before his gaze landed on a large box of food coloring. A large grin spread across his face and he nodded. He knew exactly what he was going to do.

Immediately Jack grabbed the food coloring and put them on the counter before packing up the recipe cards back into their little blue box and pushing them to sit in a corner of the kitchen where he’d be able to get to them later. The bake sale was tomorrow…Jack frowned slightly and stared up at the ceiling in thought. That would give him plenty of time to do what he needed. He nodded more to himself than to anyone else and reached over to turn up the music and started gathering all the things he’d need from their places in the kitchen.

He stopped after a moment and looked over the flyer again. What exactly was the bake sale for? He reached out and grabbed his cellphone from where it sat and after turning down the radio a bit he called up the one person who would know.

“Hallo.”

“Merida, hey.”

“Jackie-boy!” the redhead greeted rather loudly over the line. “Wut can I do far ya?”

Jack leaned his hip against the counter and picked up the flyer, glancing it over for a moment. “This bake sale thing…”

Merida made a sudden sound of understanding. “I know yer mum did it all tha taime but yer not havin’ tae do it. We pass the sheets out tae tha whole class—“

“Oh no, it’s fine. I would have called you sooner if Emma hadn’t just ran in with the thing to tell me she forgot about it.” The two adults shared a small laugh. “I’m just trying to figure out what exactly it’s for and all that. This is just the rules…I think?”

“Oh!” Merida laughed again. “Tha school is teachin’ tha kids about different things an’ wee’re raisin’ money far new playground equipment. A few o’ tha locals are helpin’ and it’ll be in tha park tamarra. So ya jus’ gotta bring yer stuff by round 11:30 cause we start at noon. Theere are tables set up far tha different classrums and the rum with tha most sales gets a party at tha end o’ tha month. Tryin’ tae encourage all tha kids in class tae participate one way ar another.”

Jack hummed thoughtfully as he scribbled down all the relevant information on a napkin that he’d grabbed hastily when Merida started explaining. “How many people usually come?”

The woman laughed yet again. “Oh tha whole town gets involved. Tha perks o’ Berk…everyone pitches in. Lot o’tha taime if ya made somethin’ real good you’ll get neighbors makin’ requests. Happened a lot wit’ yer mum’s pies.”

“Probably her chocolate strawberry.” Jack mused and then grinned when Merida confirmed with a cheerful noise. “Right then, so probably should make a pretty big batch of stuff.”

“It’d be a good idea.” Merida agreed. “Wut’er ya makin’?”

“You’ll see tomorrow Merida.” Jack answered, ignoring the woman’s protests about insider secrets. “Thanks for the information though, at least I’ve got some idea now about what’s going on.”

The two chatted for a brief moment, mostly how Emma was doing in class socially. Jack knew she was doing well academically but he was concerned how she was behaving socially in class. But Merida put his fears to rest by assuring him that nothing was different, the kids weren’t treating her differently or bullying her. A few more minutes were spent clearing up any potential further confusion and soon the two bid their farewells and ‘see you tomorrows.’

Two dozen maybe? He tapped the pen thoughtfully against the countertop as he mentally went through the list of things do to. He’d need more supplies…maybe? Jack moved away and started looking through the stuff and then nodded slightly. Yeah he’d have to make a quick stop to get chocolate powder to make two different kinds.

“What are we making?” Emma asked curiously as she wandered into the room to open the fridge and root around for a bottle of Gatorade. “Well, what are you gonna make?”

Jack laughed. “Yeah I’m not letting you help again. Not after last time.”

Emma wrinkled her nose. “I don’t really…like baking…”

“Not everyone does.” Jack stated with a small shrug. “But it’s good that you want to do something for this bake sale thing. So what happens if you don’t bring something for the sale, how do you guys help instead?”

“Miss Merida makes sure that if we can’t bring something then we show up at the actual sale and help run it.” Emma answered as she struggled with the bottle before handing it over to Jack with a pleading look. “Open please? But, if it’s okay with you Jack…I want to do both.”

Jack took the bottle and nodded as he opened the lid before screwing it back on looser than it had been and handed it back. “Yeah that’s fine. I’ll whip up these cupcakes and then tomorrow you and I can go to the park. If you don’t want me there then I’ll probably go to the store. Gotta get some stuff that we’ll need anyway.”

“You’re doing cupcakes?” Emma’s grin was nearly blinding. “They don’t usually do cupcakes…too hard to move or something.”

Jack nodded. “They can be but that’s where I luck out because I have cupcake trays.”

Emma giggled and nodded before taking a drink of her blue juice and then carefully put the lid back on before racing from the room. “Jack I’m gonna pull out my colors.”

“That’s fine. I’m gonna run next door and see if Rapunzel has cocoa powder.” Jack responded as he looked over his notes on final time to make sure he knew exactly how much he needed. “Be good and don’t break anything, five minutes.”

Emma made a sound of understanding as she began piling stuff on the coffee table. Jack watched her for a moment as he slipped on his shoes and then disappeared out the screen door to stand on the porch for a moment. He took a deep breath before pushing himself off the porch and down the steps to the sidewalk, pausing for a moment as a car rolled lazily down the tree lined street. He glanced back and forth then darted across the sleepy street over to Rapunzel’s house and knocked on the screen door twice, waiting for the familiar voice to answer him.

“Come in!” Rapunzel called cheerfully.

Jack opened the screen door and ducked into the home, smiling at Elfi who sat in the living room playing with Pascal. He made his way through the house back to the sunroom where Rapunzel was bent over a massive canvas that she was apparently in the process of stretching.

“Jack!” she greeted brightly as she stood up and tucked stray strands of hair behind her ear. “What can I do for you?”

“I hate to ask, but I really don’t feel like walking down to the store but do you happen to have any unsweetened cocoa powder?” Jack asked with a small wince.

Rapunzel looked thoughtful before motioning for him to follow her into the kitchen and take a look-see. The blonde woman opened and closed various cabinets and Jack wasn’t entirely surprised by the lack of organization within. He dutifully kept his mouth shut though because not everyone had to have their kitchens set up in a specific manner.

“What’cha doing with it?” Rapunzel asked as she dug through pulling out various types of flour and other baking necessities. “Well I mean obviously you’re baking but,”

“Oh, Emma just told me about the bake sale. So I’m gonna be doing some stuff for that.” Jack answered and then blinked several times when Rapunzel turned to him, a canister of unsweetened cocoa powder in her hand.

“Oh Jack that’s wonderful!” Rapunzel gushed. “We made pies this year…they’re cooling and they’ll be perfect for tomorrow. I’m so glad that you guys are going to be doing something for the sale! Here! I’ll get it from you next time I’m around.”

Jack smiled and nodded as he took the clear container and glanced down at it thoughtfully. Nearly full, that was gonna work perfectly. “Thanks Rapunzel, sorry to just drop in.”

She shook her head. “Feel free to drop in whenever! I’m always springing in on you without warning so it’s only fair.”

He laughed and nodded again before motioning toward the front door with a nod of his head. “Better go, don’t want to leave Emma alone for too long.”

Rapunzel nodded in understanding and bid Jack a farewell, waving slightly as he headed back home. “See you tomorrow at the sale!”

“Tomorrow Rapunzel!” he called back with a wave before disappearing into his house with his prize in hand.

Now, to get to work.


	10. Chapter Ten

Jack stared at his oven for a moment, crouched down in front of the appliance like some odd gargoyle, wiggling bare toes against the tile floor of the kitchen. This was the hardest part of the baking process…honestly it was. Blue eyes darted up to look at the clock before looking back at the cupcakes in the oven. Ovens were fickle things. You could never trust generic instructions with them because ovens ran at different temperatures – and these had to be perfect! Yes they had to be perfect.

It hadn’t taken him long to get things going, making cupcakes from scratch wasn’t really a long process It had only taken roughly 20 minutes prep time to get them going. The longest part would be the cool down which Jack wasn’t worried about…however the baking time was something he was a bit sketchy about due to the nature of the cupcakes themselves. It had been a long time since he’d made tie-dye cupcakes. Of course he still had to make the frosting…which would also be tie-dyed. A few more minutes…maybe…

Jack grabbed a toothpick and opened the oven before reaching out to test a few of the cupcakes, pleased when the toothpick came out clean. He made a mental note of the time it had taken before pulling the tray out and setting it aside to let it cool a bit before he could remove from the pan as he filled another pan with the vanilla tie-dye batter. He put it in the oven then set the timer before taking a quick glance out the backdoor where Emma, Elfi, and Lilo were running around enjoying the sunshine and playing some sort of…space pirate something or other.

A knock on the screen distracted him momentarily and Jack frowned before moving over to the front of the house. Vanellope stood there with a huge smile on her face and Jack opened the screen before motioning toward the back, watching the dark haired girl race off with a cheerful yell. He shook his head and retreated to the kitchen to keep working. He still had to get the chocolate cupcakes up and going, in case there was someone who didn’t like vanilla cake. Then again…his frosting was going to be vanilla but they’d just have to deal with it. He reached over and jotted down more of the process which he would help Emma type up later because the ingredients were one of the things they had to submit to prove it was not a store bought product.

Another knock on the front door made Jack scowl slightly. “Come in! I’m in the kitchen!”

No response greeted him but Jack wasn’t too concerned as he glanced down at the cupcakes to check on them before moving to start making the chocolate cupcakes. He glanced up from where he was sifting dry ingredients together to offer a welcoming smile at Hiccup as he came into the kitchen.

“Look at you, a regular Susie Homemaker. All you need is an apron.” Hiccup teased with a grin.

Jack rolled his eyes. “Just remember who fed your parents.”

Hiccup nodded absently. “Right, they still think we’re dating by the way. And they said you didn’t have to sneak into the house at night. Apparently they’re convinced you live with me but were hiding.”

“No offense but this place is bigger and nicer than your flat with Merida.” Jack stated, waving a whisk around in a vague manner.

“Sure, when it’s not trying to kill you.” Hiccup agreed. “Anything else sudden break on you?”

Jack shook his head and then frowned. “No but can you take a look at the washer when you get a chance? It’s been shaking more than normal. But you didn’t come by to check on the house, what’s up Hiccup?”

Hiccup laughed. “I was sent to infiltrate actually. But yeah it’s probably just uneven. I’ll take a look before I leave.”

The white haired man scowled as he continued to whip up the chocolate cupcake batter. “Merida can just wait until tomorrow. Don’t touch my cupcakes Hiccup I will kill you with a spatula.” Jack looked up from his bowl to glare at the man that had been reaching for one of the cooling cupcakes. “And you better keep your mouth shut. Just because everyone else tells doesn’t mean I want to blab my cooking out to the world.”

Hiccup put his hands up in surrender and retreated from the kitchen to sit at the bartop instead. “Lips are sealed. Where’s the kid?”

Jack nodded back to the door as he swapped out another batch of tie-dye cupcakes. “She and some of her friends are in the back doing gods only know what. I think they’re harassing Jim to be honest.”

“Jim’s a good kid, when he’s not getting into trouble with the police.” Hiccup offered with a shrug. “Kinda restless and all. I give him work when I can.”

“I picked up on that when he was brought home last night.” Jack stated with a small shrug. “I’ve been keeping him busy for his mum. He’s been helping me move stuff around up in the attic.” He tapped the top of the cooling cupcakes for a moment to see if they were cool enough to take out so he could start lining another pan. “Been busy lately?”

Hiccup hummed in agreement. “Yeah, got a few town projects the mayor wanted me to look about doing. I might need to actually get some outside help with some of it. They want me to do some landscaping and well…flowers aren’t really my thing.”

Jack frowned thoughtfully. “I might know someone who can at least give you a crash course if he can’t help. Sometimes he’s busy and other times he’s got nothing going on. I’ll call down and see.”

“Hey I’d appreciate any help I can get.” Hiccup answered as he looked over the mess spread over the counters. “So cupcakes for the bake sale. Don’t get those often. Most of the time the people make these weird big cakes and stuff. Only wanna contribute one dish I guess.”

“It’s mostly for the kids.” Jack shrugged. “Parents are more likely to buy a cupcake for the kid to eat then and there. In the park they can then go run all the energy off and crap.”

Hiccup grinned and nodded. “Makes sense to me. What kind of frosting are you gonna put on them?”

Jack glanced up from where he was putting cupcakes on cooling racks. “It’s gonna be a tie-dye vanilla buttercream. I’m gonna just make one big batch to put on all the cupcakes so I don’t have to try and make two. Not feeling that ambitious.” He laughed a bit and then glanced over at Hiccup. “I thought about doing a raspberry buttercream and a raspberry cream filling for the chocolate but then I figured I’d save that for cakes.”

“Damn Jack, you’re making me hungry.” Hiccup complained with a frown.

Jack grinned and then shrugged. “You came in knowing I was doing bake sale stuff.”

Hiccup nodded. “I did yeah that’s true. Well I was supposed to spy and I did a bad job of it. I’m gonna check your washer then I gotta head out. Miss Pattie wants me to come take a look at the lights in the dance studio.”

“That woman only wants you on a ladder to ogle your ass.” Jack stated with a shake of his head.

Hiccup left the kitchen laughing and shaking his head. Everyone knew of the older woman’s rather flirty nature and comments. It wasn’t a surprise that she was often asking the men of the town to come by and help her with various things though Hiccup was often her favorite target. Jack turned back to work on his ridiculously large amount of cupcakes. Maybe he shouldn’t have done three dozen of each. Ah well, some would either come back with them or get sent home with Merida and Hiccup. Probably Merida and Hiccup…

“It’s gone a little off level.” Hiccup stated coming back into the kitchen as Jack was putting chocolate cupcakes into the oven. “I’ll come by later this week and fix it. Nothing big.”

Jack nodded. “Thanks for looking though. I owe you a lunch. Do you guys still have the leftovers or do I need to come restock your fridge?”

“Hey, we aren’t that bad.” Hiccup protested only to go quiet at the look Jack gave him. “Shut up Jack.”

“Are you two gonna kiss or something?” Vanellope suddenly asked from where she stood at the backdoor.

Jack and Hiccup looked at her immediately and stared at the girl as she came in and went to the fridge to start grabbing Capri sun pouches. Neither said anything as she looked curiously at the cupcakes then hurried from the kitchen and back out to the other girls playing in the yard. She was met with loud cheers, no doubt having held up her prize to show what she’d gotten them.

“I don’t understand that girl.” Jack said after a long awkward moment.

Hiccup shook his head slightly. “I don’t think anyone does…not even her uncle Ralph really gets her…so um yeah. I’ll see you later this week. Or tomorrow I guess at the bake sale?”

Jack nodded and cleared his throat. “Right, tomorrow at the sale. Don’t tell nosey.”

The green eyed made nodded a bit at the reminder. “Not saying a word to her. I’ll probably forget anyway after defending myself from Miss Pattie.”

That made Jack laugh and he waved Hiccup out of the kitchen so he could hurry up and finish what he was doing. He didn’t want these cupcakes to take all day after all. Soon enough though he had all his cupcakes out on cooling racks and started working on the frosting. It would take a while to do it all so Jack made sure he set up enough piping bags to get the job done. Lilo, Elfi and Vanellope shuffled into the kitchen with Emma right behind them and the three girls bid Jack a goodnight before heading off to head home as it was getting later in the evening.

“Wow Jack! They look so cool!” Emma gushed as she picked up one of the vanilla cakes. “How did you do that?”

“Magic.” Jack stated with a grin as he put away bowls into the sink to be cleaned later. “It’s baking magic.”

Emma giggled and climbed up onto one of the bar stools to watch as Jack went through making the frosting before dividing it evenly between a few smaller bowls with bottles of food coloring next to them. Her big brother was quick as he filled piping bags and then began to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. It was like watching a wizard or something.

“We’ll put them in the carriers tonight before we head to bed that way we can just grab them and go tomorrow.” Jack explained.

“Are we gonna put them in the fridge?” Emma questioned.

Jack nodded. “Yeah, I don’t like to but we wouldn’t have had time to make them fresh tomorrow.”

Emma fiddled with the paper where Jack had written down all the ingredients he’d used in the cupcakes. “Vanellope said that Hiccy was here.”

The older sibling looked up from where he was decorating the cupcakes to look over at his sister. Her tone had been a bit odd. He frowned slightly and tilted the bag in his hand to keep from getting frosting on something that wasn’t a cupcake. “Yeah, he stopped by for a few minutes. Do you not want him to come over?”

“Are you gonna start dating Hiccup?” Emma asked instead of answering the funny question.

Jack nearly dropped the bag in hand. “What?”

Emma shrugged. “Well he comes around a lot and you smile more when he’s here. Lilo said that Nani does that when David shows up at the house and he’s her boyfriend. So are you gonna date Hiccy?”

“Uh…” Jack cleared his throat and turned back to finish frosting the cupcakes so he could start making a quick dinner. “That’s not, I mean, I don’t know. He’s nice and all. I guess I wouldn’t say no if he asked me on a date or something. Not that he will Emma, but if it came up. Would that bother you?”

“Nope.” Emma answered with a small smile. “I like Hiccy. He’s a magical unicorn, he can do anything…but cook…” She drummed her fingers on the countertop then grinned and leaned forward. “You guys would be good! You can cook and Hiccy can fix the house! You should get married so he doesn’t starve to death.”

“Oh gods,” Jack coughed a few times. “How about we just…start as friends Emma. And if we date then we—“

“Get married.” Emma stated cutting him off. “If you date then you fall even more in love and get married.”

Jack stared at his sister for a long moment in a mixture of annoyance and disbelief. “Go clean up your mess in the living room then get washed up for dinner before I make you do the cupcake dishes that are for your school thing.”

Emma nearly flew off the stool as she raced into the livingroom to clean up the various DVDs and colored pencils and coloring books she’d left in her haste to play outside with Lilo and Elfi. Jack snorted and shook his head as he turned back to finish up the cupcakes, switching out when one piping bag was empty to another so that all the cupcakes looked slightly different…which was the plan due to the frosting. Still, he couldn’t help but smile at his sister’s thought process. She was such a random kid but at least he wasn’t gonna have to worry about her feeling abandoned if Jack did start dating.

Not that he would of course…

After all he wasn’t that interested in Hiccup.

Not that way…

Yes he was…

Fuck.


End file.
